Baptism

My first week is over! We had a great day on Saturday, we had the pleasure of seeing one of our amazing investigators baptized. I cannot take any credit for helping her to make that step, because for one she was already planning to be baptized when I got here, but also because she was already prepared by the Lord to be baptized. She is what some would call a golden investigator. When Sister Crompton and Sister Forbes met her she was ready to be baptized. I was just happy to witness the baptism. It gives me hope for the future when hopefully I can be led to those like her who are ready.

Sister Crompton and I are doing great. We work well together, and get along well personally too. I love having her as a companion and learn so much from her each day. I am getting better at teaching and opening my mouth to contact people even though it takes me out of my comfort zone to do so. I know how important it is so I am really trying to be better.

The church here in our area is actually a Branch. It is the only one in our area, but there is another in Kingstown and a group is being started in Georgetown. There aren't too many youth in our Branch, but there are a good number of kids. The primary sang I am a Child of God yesterday in Sacrament meeting. It was very cute. I love the kids here, and just want to hold them all day, but we aren't supposed to. We can't really stop them from wanting to hang on to us and play with our hair though!

I miss you all, and love you lots!

Sister Bratt

 

 

 

 

St Vincent

First Week in the West Indies

St. Vincent is great! The roads are a mess though. They are just very narrow with ditches on the sides and potholes everywhere. It is very hilly and mountainous here, so things are pretty spread out on different sides of different hills and such.  There are almost no addresses here, so it makes it difficult to figure out where someone lives and also to write it in the area book. Sister Crompton has started drawing little maps on the investigator records to show where to find them. People here are very polite. They expect you to say hello, good morning or whatever, and they say "yes, please" or "no, please" in answer to any yes or no question. Our apartment is actually really nice. It has a washing machine that is hooked up to water AND a dryer. We are spoiled. We have at least two little gecko friends living in our apartment with us currently, but so far nothing too horrific. We don't have air conditioning, but we open the balcony door and we get plenty of breeze. We have a fan too that we direct at us at night. The past couple days it has started to rain really hard with lots of wind at random times. It never lasts long, but it can  get pretty intense.

We have some current investigators and even a couple of progressing ones. There is one family in which the 10 year old daughter was baptized on my birthday and her mom is getting baptized this Saturday, so we are really excited about that. They are a really special family that were truly prepared by the Lord. The daughter likes to go teaching with us and her sweet testimony really adds to the spirit in our lessons. It is wonderful here! I will attach some pictures.

 

Love,

Sister Bratt

 

A zoomed in view taken from our church

building. Awesome, right!

 

                                          I just finished drinking the coconut water from

                                                  this coconut that was given to me by

                                               someone we visited with and helped today..

 

First Day in the West Indies Mission (WIM)

I'm in Trinidad!!!! We made it here safe and sound last night at around 9 pm after 18+ hours of travel. We had to wait in a long line at customs, but we made it out of the airport finally around 10:30 and were in bed by 11:30. We are staying at the mission home for one more night and then we all go our separate ways tomorrow. I will be going to St. Vincent and will be companions with Sister Crompton, one of the sisters who's blog I was following. Anyway, they just wanted to let us send a quick message to let you know we made it here safely. I'm attaching a photo of all of us here at the mission home. I love you!

Sister Bratt

 

 

Week Two at the MTC

May 31, 2013

 

 

My awesome MTC district!!

 

 

It's my last p-day here at the MTC! My district and I head out on Monday at 3 am! Wow! Earlier than we thought. So exciting! I had a great birthday thanks to my district and all of you! Thanks for the letters and packages! I love you all so much! I am still getting used to teaching, but I am getting better...I think. I know that if I continue to do my best and to trust in the Lord with complete obedience, he will bless me with the words to speak. So I'm trying to do just that. Yesterday we had an all day in-field orientation that was surprisingly great! We learned a lot AND we were taught by one of the Elders from the District 2 videos, Elder (now Brother) Christensen. He has been home for 2 years now, and is a pretty awesome teacher.

Love,

Sister Bratt

 

 

I had a great birthday! Thanks everyone! Love y'all!

 

 

 

 

 

Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah

First Week at the MTC
May 24, 2013

This week has been amazing so far! I was nervous and anxious at first, but have already become used to things here. I love my companions and the other 4 sisters in my district so much already! We are all in the same residence hall, meaning there are 3 bunk beds in one small room, but I don't mind it at all! The teachers here are so amazing and I am learning so much everyday both from them and from the Spirit that is all around on this campus. It feels like I have already been here for weeks. I know that even though 13 days (10 now!) doesn't seem like much time at all to be here, it will feel like so much longer because of all that I will be learning and doing. My companion is so sweet and funny and I am glad to have the opportunity to serve with her. I hope that the sisters I am serving with here will be in areas with me in the field, because I already love them so much. I can feel their spirits so strongly each day. We got to go to the temple this afternoon! The Provo Temple is so beautiful just like all the rest. I was impressed by the Spirit that was present in that room full of missionaries in white.

Love,

Sister Bratt

 

I am going to the best mission in the world!!

THE WEST INDIES MISSION