One of the Coolest Lessons of my Life!

Dear Family,

Okay guess what. This week was AWESOME. I LOVE my new companion, she's the cutest/shortest person on the planet. She's 4'8''. It's hilarious. We are both so pumped for this transfer, it's ridiculous.

I had a sticky-note list of things I wanted to tell you about, but I left it at the flat...so dang it. This week was really good though!

Me and my teensy, weensy, little companion

We did this thing called spiritual tracting, I think I told you guys about it awhile ago. It's the coolest thing ever. Both of us go into our rooms and repent, which is the most important part. We absolutely HAVE to be clean in order to have the Spirit and direction from the Lord. We don't take it lightly, either. We kneel in our Gethsemane and seek forgiveness for all of the little things we've done or haven't done over the past few days, and we come out of it empowered. Quick tangent: if repentance is not a regular part of your life, make it one. Our personal plan of Salvation hinges on the sincerity and regularity of our repentance. And if you don't think you have to repent, go humble yourself and repent for that mindset. Saying you don't need to repent is denying the need for a Savior in your life.

Anyways, back to my story. So we both repented and then prayed specifically for an area to tract. Then a section of that area. Then we prayed and individually listed streets we wanted to visit. We each had one street in common - Marigold Street. Which we went and tracted and found the most GOLDEN Moari guy ever! He was so legit and we are teaching him and his family tomorrow. I am SO pumped!

So here's the coolest thing on the planet. Well, Maori's are descendants of Lehi. More specifically, Haggoth - the guy in the Book of Mormon who built a ship and then sailed away and was never heard of more. Their history and culture is SO closely tied to the Book of Mormon/Bible, and they don't even know it. This LEGIT Moari guy in our ward was telling me some of it. For example, before a Moari speaks at a gathering, they always repeat an ancient saying in Moari. Translated into English, it goes something like this - "Long ago, we came across the sea from a land far away, a narrow strip of land joining to large lands, with water on either side." The Maoris think it's like an imaginary place....but we all know where that is! (:Yes anyways, that's not doctrine so we don't teach it. But it's outrageously awesome.

 I had one of the coolest lessons of my life. So, due to some necessary travel arrangements involving transfers, Sister Chou Lee and I were in a trio with Sister Ensign for one glorious day. It was amazing. Let me tell you about this lesson we had. So we were up in Kwinana, and we were visiting this lady. We went to her house and something came up so we couldn't teach her. Instead, we went across that street to a less active that we had never met. The less active, Quinton, was there, along with his non-member friend. We sat down and started the lesson. We opened with a hymn, and the Spirit - BAM. He was crying before the first verse was over. We continued the lesson and taught the principle of repentance. It was one of the most powerful lessons any of us - Sister Ensign, Sister Chou Lee and I - had ever been in. It's hard to explain but it was ridiculous. We called him to repentance. None of that pansy stuff "um, so anyways, please could you like, repent and stuff. Please, Jesus loves you." NO, NOT IN OUR HOUSE!! At the end of the lesson, "Quinton. WILL YOU repent of your sins?" At this point he was weeping,"Yes." "Will you come to church and worship the Lord Jesus Christ with us on Sunday?" "Yes." "Quinton's friend. Will you follow the example of Jesus Christ, and be baptized by someone holding the Priesthood Authority of God?" "Yes". The friend had no idea what we were even talking about it, but the Spirit in the room was so hardcore that he know he had to say yes. We walked out of that lesson with our minds blown.

Another tangent. God is SO powerful. He rules the universe. He can do anything. And we can tap into his power. We do this through faith, worthiness, and making and keeping covenants with Him. Covenants are SO powerful. Yes, us endowed members have our Temple covenants that we've made. We need to reflect on them often and make sure we are living them. Every member of the church has made a baptismal covenant, to take upon them the name of Christ and to always remember Him. To ALWAYS REMEMBER HIM. We can all do better at that. If we do, we have greater access to the power of God. AND, we can also make personal covenants with God. In the privacy of our room, down on our knees we can make covenants, even daily ones. More than just, "Heavenly Father, please help me to....". No. "Heavenly Father, I WILL do this. Prepare the way for me, and I will do anything in my power to make it happen. Should all the forces of hell combine against me, I'll do it." Trust me, I am speaking from personal experience here - when we make those covenants, and keep them, God's Spirit and power floods our lives. But we HAVE to keep them; those aren't the kind of promises you break. And be prepared, because when Satan will try and stop you. This is a war, and we have to see it that way! We are literally fighting a war that we've all been engaged in since before the foundation of the world. We have to be active; there is no middle ground. There's no Switzerland between heaven and hell, here on earth. The nature of this spiritual conflict is such that there can be no fence sitters - every day, without even knowing it, we make choices that are either for or against the Savior and His plan.

Another thing. Guys, keep the commandments. We have to. Being more obedient to the commandments of God is the answer to pretty much every problem in life. In my study this morning, I was studying how to have the Spirit with me more, and how to have a stronger testimony, and I kept getting all these scriptures saying "keep the commandments. Keep the commandments." And I was like, "I'm already keeping them...so, now what? What's next?" But it kept coming up so I decided to go and study the commandments, just to make sure I hadn't missed anything. (: Well, guess what guys. Keeping the basic commandments is WAY harder and more uncommon than we give it credit for. Just for a refresher, let me list them for you (as taught in Preach My Gospel):

Obedience

Pray Often

Study the Scriptures

Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

Baptism and Confirmation

Follow the Prophet - (think about it. Think about every general conference address from a prophet you've ever heard. Every prophetic scripture you've ever read. Holy smokes, we have to do ALL of that. Yep.)

Keep the Ten Commandments -

Live the Law of Chastity

Obey the Word of Wisdom

Live the Law of the Tithe

Live the Law of the Fast

Obey and Honor the Law

These are the basics. Lets master them. And in order to master them, we need to know and thoroughly understand them - for example, keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. Studying the Sabbath as a family and figuring out just exactly we are and aren't supposed to do on that day would be a great Family Home Evening, for every single family in the entire universe.

Anyways, I love you guys! Keep being righteous and stuff and START WRITING ME LETTERS!!!

Love,

Sister Bryce

Yep I know, I've let myself go. I don't have time for dolling up these days; don't judge me! I just, like, don't care.