Sister Brianne Watson: scorched.🔥

I want you all to take a second and count your many blessings that you're receiving an email from me right now. Let me just lay out the scene for you....The day is Saturday, and Sister Brown and I are in the middle of our morning companionship study. We receive a call from our Ward Mission Leader and he said, "sisters, today is going to be pretty hot so I'm just calling you to prepare you to drink a lot of] water and try to stay as cool as possible." We realized that we would be fine since we were staying indoors nearly all day doing our Weekly Planning session so we kind of pushed his warning out of our minds.

Fast forward an hour or so and it is now 90 degrees with 80% humidity. There is no air conditioning in our apartment and no breeze coming through the windows. We were sitting in one spot for about 5 hours straight and I'm pretty sure I gave off 70 gallons of sweat...I have NEVER felt so hot in my life! All we had was an ancient fan that blew some more hot air towards us. I thank the heavens that we had a freezer because half of that day was spent with us stuffing our faces inside of it. Luckily, our Ward Mission Leader came over yesterday to install an air conditioner so we won't suffer like that ever again!

As I look back at this experience, I can see the symbolism and the lesson learned. Our ward mission leader was kind of like the prophet. The prophet warns us of things to come and tells us what to do to avoid getting scorched by the adversary. If we heed to the prophet's counsel and apply their guidance into our lives, we will be kept safe and protected from danger. If we push aside their advice and put our own wisdom above theirs, we will find ourselves being burned. I'm not sure if that made any sense whatsoever, but I thought it was so ironic and I've been studying about prophets a lot lately so that's most likely where that comparison came from :)

There is my experience of being physically scorched on Saturday. Now we turn to Sunday where we were emotionally/mentally scorched. I felt like everyone was out to attack Sister Brown and I...but in a good way! Our ward mission leaders (we have 2) told us about better ways of planning in our coordination meeting before church. Then, the zone leaders who are serving in this ward with us came up to us and asked us about different things concerning our investigator who wasn't at church, then our ward mission leaders came to install the air conditioner and while they were doing it, they gave us several different goals to work toward in order to keep the progression going in this ward/area. It was like we were being thoroughly rebuked the entire day! I feel like we needed them to straighten us up and tell us what to do to improve. I see wonderful things coming for this area! As painful as it was to go through the "scorching" process by being told everything we were struggling with, I know that Heavenly Father sent them to us to strengthen us.

It's my BIRTHDAY WEEK! I turn 20 this coming Sunday. 💥💕💥💕💥💕 June 5th couldn't come soon enough!! It'll be so weird spending a birthday on my mission but I'm super pumped. This ward will spoil me I'm sure :)

Oh! Here's something cool! We got 2 new investigators this week😄 we had a lesson with a man we tracted into a couple weeks ago and it went so well. We taught him the restoration and his daughter was there as well and she eagerly took a Book of Mormon and promised to read it. Her dad promised the same thing!! I absolutely love testifying of the restored gospel and sharing the story of Joseph Smith with a sure knowledge of its truthfulness. Feeling the spirit testify through me is such a humbling experience...its a reminder that none of the success comes from me. People are converted through the spirit, I am just the conduit that is used. Being a missionary is the neatest thing ever :)

Our other investigator that we got is a lady who used to be taught by missionaries a while back. She texted us 2 weeks ago telling us she wanted to meet with us and be taught again! Apparently she works in Boston so she's been going to the temple grounds after work to read and pray at the Boston temple grounds. WHAT! She is basically the dryest Mormon I've ever met. She could have been the one to teach us! We met with her this past week and she is so prepared. She told us she wants to be baptized, but she needs to move out of her parent's house first (long story). I'm so excited to see her progression!

I'm still loving this area and this ward and my companion. I'm learning so much during my service here and I know that my time in this area is so inspired! I love this gospel and I love the challenge placed in front of me to share it with everyone around me. I love stretching out of my comfort zone and seeing myself grow. I love serving people and seeing their lives change for the better as they accept the gospel into their lives. I love being in the service of the Lord and giving back to Him in this small way.

Love,

Sister Watson🔥