Sister Brianne Watson: Home of the God-less

HELLOOOO everybody! This week was full of wonderful miracles and I can't even wait to tell you about them. First of all, our new mission president came! President Blair is SO STINKIN' AWESOME. I love him so much already! He and his wife are just a riot and they are so funny. We had a 'Meet and Greet' with them on Wednesday where they introduced themselves and met all of us. They had us all laughing the entire time! I feel like they are going to do great things for this mission and I am excited to serve with them.

Second, we got a new investigator! His name is Frank and he's from the Dominican Republic (I think) and he currently lives in Gloucester. I've taught him once before a few months ago but it didn't go too well since we were teaching him and his friend who couldn't speak englishso Frank ended up having to translate the entire time. It was a rough lesson but the one we had on Friday was a lot better!! This time it was just Frank and since we didn't have a woman with us and he didn't have one in his home, we taught him through his doorway on his porch #cool.

We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and how important it is and where it came from etc. and as I was testifying of it, he said "woah, I just remembered that you *points at me* were in my dream last night. You were talking to me at my door just like you are right now." It was crazy! I then asked him if he would get baptized if he were to find out of this was all true and he said YES! He said he's searching for light in his life and I promised him that he'd find it through the church and through the Book of Mormon. He's such a sweet guy who has a deep love for God and Jesus Christ and I'm so excited to continue teaching him :) it's so cool to recognize the hand of the Lord placing people that are ready in our path like that.

Third, we got a dinner appointment for this coming week with a couple who's been less active ever since the husband was released from the bishopric. They've been less active for a long time and nobody has been able to contact them for so long and I've tried contacting them almost every week since I've been in this area, no luck. It wasn't until a couple weeks ago that we were able to meet the husband and have a lesson with him on the Book of Mormon! It was awesome and the spirit was so strong. Then on Thursday, we tried them again and this time the wife answered the door. She didn't seem too happy to see us and she honestly just wanted us off her porch as soon as she opened the door...We left a little discouraged BUT the next day, she called us and set up a dinner appointment with us for this coming Friday. YAY!! That right there is a big fat miracle. We told some of the members about this at church yesterday and they all flipped out and about fell to the floor. We are all so excited!

I learned something about my mission this week and I'd love to share it with you. During our meet and greet with President and Sister Blair, he talked about different stereotypes and feelings and statistics that he heard prior to coming out to this mission. My mission covers Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, parts of Massachusetts, and parts of New York. Apparently Vermont is voted #1 for the most God-less state in America. #2 is a tie between Maine and New Hampshire. The parts of New York and Massachusetts are on the top ten of the same list. My entire mission is considered the most God-less area of the United States...and we see that every day.

My mission is SO HARD. We are so lucky if we have between 2-5 investigators. Out of the four areas I've served in, I've never exceeded 4 investigators at once and even that didn't last very long. The most progressing investigators I've had at once is one. These people are truly "all set" (they use that phrase all...the...time) and they want nothing to do with religion or people that want to talk about religion. Baptisms around here don't happen hardly ever and it is very difficult. It's not easy to hear about the success of other missionaries around the world because we know we will never see that kind of success no matter how bad we want it.

BUT, even though President Blair brought up all these points to us expecting us to break down and complain about it to him, we all stood up for ourselves and for New England. We all have a deep love for every single person we come in contact with. We are all so close with the wonderful members because sometimes they're all we have. We are able to have our own testimony strengthened since we are constantly standing up for ourselves and defending our beliefs. The elect are here and we are willing and ready to find them. Our mission has the richest history when it comes to past prophets and U.S presidents. President Blair told us that the Lord sends His strongest missionaries to the hardest missions because He knows we can handle it and He knows we will do our very best to find those that are ready to receive the gospel. I love my my mission!

There were many other miracles this week including being able to find a less active who's records had been lost for a long time, finding a cute young mother to teach while street contacting (she is SO

prepared!), and OH! Jean Makalou!!! I've gotta tell you about this.

Okay, so for a long time we would always plan on going to Gloucester once a week every Friday since we didn't want to use up our miles. Recently, we've decided to expand it to going there on Tuesdays as well! We almost didn't go this past Tuesday but we both felt inspired to go anyway. While we were there, we both felt prompted to stop by and check up on Sister Makalou and it ended up being the biggest miracle that we did. She lives in an apartment complex where you buzz in from the outside and they have to let you in from inside their apartment by hitting a button on their wall. When we hit the button, she let us in right away which was our first miracle. When she opened her door, she was a sobbing mess.

Everything in her life is going wrong and she is so overwhelmed, stressed, and sore out of her mind from her new job. They're working her crazy hours and she's doing a lot of lifting and stretching which is what she should be avoiding due to her current physical ability. She said that when we buzzed in, she happened to be passing the button on her wall about to go sit down and

not move for the rest of the day, even if someone did try to visit her. We were able to sit with her and listen to her which was exactly what she needed. We shared powerful quotes that comforted her and it showed us how truly inspired it was that we visited her that day. We were able to contact a priesthood holder close by and he came later that evening to give her a blessing...being a missionary and being led by the spirit to those that need us most is the greatest feeling in the world.❤️ it brings the purest joy I have ever felt in my life!

A scripture I have been leaning on throughout my mission is Isaiah 41:10 which says, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." What a powerful promise!! All He is asking us is to "fear not" and He will be with us in every trial and tribulation and challenge we will ever face.

Reading this scripture reminds me of a short, yet powerful sentence in my patriarchal blessing which says, "You have no need to fear." I know for a fact that that is so true for every single one of us. We have the gospel in our lives and as long as we remember that and lean on the Lord in all we do, then we truly have NO need to fear. We are so blessed.

Love you all, have a happy week! :)