Zone Conference with Elder Anderson

Yesterday we had a special Zone Conference with the Mehrs as well as Elder Anderson, our area 70. He and his wife came and spoke with us and also answered any questions we had. It was a great day. We also got the special experience to witness the baptism of an excommunicated member of the church who has been attending church faithfully ever since his excommunication 7 years ago. He was able to be baptized by Elder Anderson, and it was very amazing. I really look up to him for his strong faith and testimony of this gospel that kept him coming even all these years. He is so dedicated to the church that we didn't even know he was excommunicated until his wife told us a couple days before the baptism and invited us to come. 

Speaking of baptisms, our sweet investigator will be getting baptized this Saturday! It will be wonderful. We are so excited for her. 

Love you all!

Sister Bratt

Tender Mercies

Through prayer and fasting, we saw small miracles towards the end of this week. We had a simply productive day on Saturday as we started our fast, and just met nice people. It helped to raise our spirits and to remind us of our grand purpose as missionaries. One of the people we met actually sort of contacted us! We were walking down a street calling into houses, and as I looked up to see if people were home in one house, I fell into the ditch in front of their house. (Don't worry, I was fine, it wasn't a deep ditch) I know that it was meant to be, because after I got up, there was a young women riding by on a bike that saw me fall and stopped to see if I was alright. After seeing that I was, she asked what we were doing and it opened an opportunity for us to talk to her. Not only that, but she is really searching for peace in her life right now, so she was very receptive to our message. We sang the hymn "Where Can I Turn for Peace" to her right there on the street, and I know the Spirit was there so strong. We will be seeing her again soon, and we have great hopes for her.

On Sunday we also had a great experience with a young girl we contacted a couple weeks ago. We haven't been able to see her since, because she only has free time to see us on Sundays, and our appointment with her last week fell through. We had a great feeling about her though, so we were excited to see her again yesterday. When we did, we were able to answer some of her questions and she really opened up to us about how she has had the desire to build a relationship with God for so long without success. She doesn't feel that God answers prayers any more, because hers have felt unanswered for years. We bore sincere testimony to her that God is there and that he does hear and answer prayers. We invited her to pray once more to simply know whether he is there, and then to pay careful attention to her feelings afterwards. It was a very emotional and spiritual lesson. She is truly desperate for this gospel in her life, and we know it will bless her. It is now just up to her to see that. We are leaving that in the Lord's hands and we will see her next week to see what happens.

I have felt truly blessed of the Lord this weekend, and cannot thank him enough for his tender mercies.

Hope you all have a great week! I love you!!!!

Sister Bratt

Staying in San Fernando

Christmas week was good for visiting, but slow for lessons. We have started teaching the law of the fast again, and have asked the members to pray and fast for someone to come to mind that we could teach. We also want to start house meetings, where the members invite friends and neighbors over and we share a message or a video and have refreshments. We hope this will be a good way to share the gospel with more people.

One of our investigators will be getting baptized on January the 18th! We are so excited for her. She truly is amazing and so prepared to hear and accept this gospel. I know that the gospel will bless her life tremendously, as it has mine! I am so excited for her!

We got our transfer assignments on Friday and transfers are this Wednesday, but Sister Herrick and I weren't effected. I already love our new senior couple, the Batemans. They are from Levan, Utah, I wonder if Grandpa knows them. They are really sweet. We helped them clean when they moved in to their apartment, so last night they had us over for dinner to repay us for our help. It was good to have an American home-cooked meal...other than turkey and ham that is ;) 

I hope you all had a great Christmas and a wonderful New Year!

Love ya lots!
Sister Bratt

The Joys of Christmas

We are really looking forward to talking to our families tomorrow! How blessed we are to be able to not just call, but to video chat as well! We will be meeting for a Christmas meal and taking turns talking to our families at home. We are so blessed to have the truths of the gospel in our lives! What a joy to be able to share those truths with others! I hope everyone is having a joyous Christmas season!

Love,
Kelsie

The Message of the Restoration - One of the greatest gifts we can give!

Are you enjoying your Christmas break yet? I know it has started here, so now more people are home during the day, hopefully that will help us to meet more people who will listen to the message of the Restoration. The gospel truly is one of the greatest gifts we can give to our friends and family for Christmas. It is the only thing that will bring us true and eternal happiness. That sounds like a great idea that the missionaries are doing in your area! We will have to try something like that here to get the members involved. 

Our new senior couple is moving in this week. We are excited to meet them and to work with them. 

We have a small, foot tall, Charlie Brown Christmas tree in our apartment that our investigator gave us. We cut out some paper snow flakes for it and added on the ornaments that we made yesterday when we helped in primary. They were little kits that they had for the kids to make and there were extra, so we each got one. It is made of red and green foam with a place to write the year and a place in the middle where we made a little finger-print reindeer. They're cute. 

Hope you are enjoying the Christmas Season!

I love ya lots, 

Sister Bratt  

                                                              Christmas Message - Christmas Treats

Serving brings the Christmas Spirit

We had the opportunity to do some service this week for a couple of investigators that helped to put me in the Christmas spirit. We scraped paint off of a wall so that they could repaint it as well as helping another lady prepare things for a kids Christmas party she put on for less-fortunate children.

Our investigators who have baptism dates are doing amazingly well. They were both at church this Sunday. One of them already wants to join the choir and asked the relief society president if she could help with the newsletter because she is good with graphics. We love her so much and can't wait for her to be baptized.

We had a fantastic ward Christmas Party on Saturday that had a great turn out. There were about 150 people total, more than the bishop says he has ever seen in that building. Everyone seemed to have a great time; there was just enough food, the program was fun, and the kids got to see Santa. For the program, each group (relief society, elders quorum, yw, primary, seminary, ysa, etc.) did a little presentation. Sister Herrick and I sang with the yw and the relief society, as well as the choir at the end for the nativity skit. It was a fun night. The primary was really cute. They acted out the Christmas Carol, and did an amazing job. Also, a little boy about 2 years old sang a song called "put Jesus in your Christmas" and "We wish you a merry Christmas." He was SUPER cute!

I love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Sister Bratt

Happy December!!!!

Happy December!!!! I am adjusting well to Trinidad. We are still working with our amazing investigator who has a baptism date for the 28th of December. We also have the husband of a member in the ward who we are working with. He has been working with the missionaries for a while now, but is finally close to baptism. His date is the 28th as well. He is determined to be baptized by the end of the year. One of the elders' investigators was just baptized with her 9 year old son on Saturday after being taught for many years. It strengthened my testimony of never giving up on people, and trusting in the Lord's timing. We may not be the one to baptize the people we teach, but we are still making a difference.

I love you all!

Have a great December!

Sister Bratt

Thanksgiving was wonderful!! We were spoiled!!