Be Their FRIEND

Here is Sierras latest email. She didnt know what to title it. I decided on the title because of the impression and feeling this letter left on me. Somehow she always writes what I need to hear. Hope you all have a great week.-Misty


 Hello Everyone!! This week was really, really good!! :) Miracle week to say the least. Between the two sets of sisters there were 7 people who are investigating the church attend sacrament meeting! We were so excited to see them there :) 2 of them stayed for all 3 hours too. Also, there were 2 people who have not attended church in a long time who were there as well. It was a wonderful sight :) We were able to teach a lot of lessons and between the 2 sets again we taught 45 lessons! All of the credit goes to the Lord. The 4 of us could easily not get along because we live together and we share a ward; a very small ward. The Lord has blessed us though! We all love each other a lot so we love to work together and see other people be happy as well. I love my companions! :) I would be completely happy if I stayed in this ward with these 3 sisters for the rest of my mission.



 I am loving reading the Book of Mormon more than I have before right now. I keep having a thought come to my head in re-guards to how I should teach people. There are missionaries where it seems like they talk to someone and they want to get baptized the next week. There are others who are only focused on baptizing people; which is a good thing! Baptism is the gate to the path that leads back to God. We must be baptized to live with God. I keep thinking then, "Am I moving people too slowly towards baptism? And should I start pushing them more?" This has been a genuine concern on my mind for some time. I have been trying to figure out what is the best balance; especially as a full time missionary. I was reading in 3 Nephi 18 the other morning. This is when Christ is establishing the sacrament and it answered my question. I have been excited to share this in my email! "And now behold, this is the commandment which I give unto you, that ye shall not suffer any one knowingly to partake of my flesh and blood unworthily, when ye shall minister it; For whoso eateth and drinketh my flesh and blood unworthily eateth and drinketh damnation to his soul; therefore if ye know that a man is unworthy to eat and drink of my flesh and blood ye shall forbid him." Obviously, if I as a full time missionary if we have someone get baptized and they do not understand the covenant that they are making, they are eating and drinking damnation to their soul. I am the one who is teaching them the fullness of the gospel. It is my responsibility that not only they get to the waters of baptism BUT they understand the importance and the blessings of it. Other missionaries may have a very, very different opinion than I but have decided that we will move at the pace of the person investigating the church. Yes, we will invite them to do things. Yes, we will teach them as much as we can. And yes, the "I met the missionaries and 3 weeks later I was baptized" stories happen. But, that is why they are called miracle stories. I will ensure that the people who I teach will a solid understanding on the covenant they will making so they will not fall away a few months later. Another thought that has been on my mind about those who are less active or not active in the church. I know many people who fit into this category. In fact, there are many people in this ward I am in that we teach who fit that description. The story that missionaries hear everywhere is "they aren't interested and don't want to come back." If everyone understood the happiness and blessings of the gospel, they would never fall away. What is one of those things that brings happiness and blessings? Friends. We must be friends to everyone that we know. We must love everyone genuinely. This scripture helped me answer this question as well: "Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out from among you, but ye shall minister unto him and shall pray for him unto the Father, in my name; and if it so be that he repenteth and is baptized in my name, then shall ye receive him, and shall minister unto him of my flesh and blood. But if he repent not he shall not be numbered among my people, that he may not destroy my people, for behold I know my sheep, and they are numbered. Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them." Christ clearly teaches that we must continue to invite people. It does not matter how many times they say no. It does not matter if they are angry, or offended, or rude, or any other unwelcome reaction. We must keep inviting "for ye know not but what they will return and repent." Repent is a change of heart. Once they feel that love that you have for them, they will have a desire to change their heart. Brothers and sisters, look at your home and visiting teaching lists today. Look at the people who you are not good friends with. The Lord has assigned you to these precious souls to be their friends. I have never looked at visiting teaching this way. These people aren't a check off list. There is a particular reason that you, and only you, are assigned to those people. That is because they need you, and only you. And guess what? You need them. With whatever calling you hold, you have been assigned to minister to certain people for the same reason and purpose. Take advantage of it! Life is too short. Our lives are not "too busy" to love our neighbor. Our lives are not "too busy" to live our callings to our fullest potential. Most importantly, our live are not "too busy" to cultivate our own testimonies. How best to do that? Share what you know and learn. You read something great in your personal study? Share it! You will remember it better that way. Then after you share it, your natural reaction would be to apply it to yourself and live it. Do that often so you never have to start from the ground up again. I hope that the message I shared makes sense. If it doesn't, I hope someone tells me and I will try re-wording it next week ;) I love you all. I hope you all are doing wonderful. Have a great week :) Love forever, Sister Sierra Birch

Happy Love Day!!

Hi :)


 I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day. Guess what? I have a boyfriend here ;) lol It's just Ryder (he is 3). Apparently when he went to the store he was telling strangers that he had to buy heart candy (chocolate heart boxes) for his girlfriends (Sister Fitt and I). My heart melted ;) haha Valentines Day was way fun! For the last few hours of the evening Sister Fitt, Johnson, and one of our sister training leaders Sister Haddock went around to the single ladies ("All the single ladies, all the single ladies") in the ward and took them a tulip and sang them songs. It was so fun! :) President and Sister Thomas surprised us in the morning with roses and chocolate. I love them! We have an investigator on date!! We have no idea when she will get baptized due to some circumstances BUT she wants to get baptized really bad! Whoot whoot :) Sister Fitt and I love this girl, she is awesome! Sister Fitt and I taught the entire Thomas' family the "Cups"song at their dinner yesterday, that was really fun :) Pretty much I love this ward a lot and I would be perfectly happy if I stay here the rest of my mission :) (I just jinxed myself, I am getting transferred next month). The missionaries I serve with are amazing! We all get along really well and it is a blast all the time! This week was President Thomas' birthday. Us 4 Sisters wrote him a song to "Part of your World" from the Little Mermaid and 2 of the Elders made this amazing cake and cookies. We surprised him with posters and streamers, all that stuff and sang him the song and had a small little party. It was so fun! Ah, life is wonderful :)


 Something I have been thinking about lately is the Plan of Salvation. Everyone who has a body (so everyone who is reading this email) accepted the Plan of Salvation. If you didn't agree to it you wouldn't be here right now. Everyone with a body knew God and Christ before they were born. They were taught the plan, accepted it, and now are living it. But we don't remember it. Why? That why is the key reason for this existance. We are to exercise our faith in God and Jesus Christ and follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost. The more we learn about the gospel, the more it makes sense. That is because we already know the entire plan, we are simply remembering it. How amazing is that?! When we are a primary teacher, a parent, a missionary, sibling, etc. when we teach about the plan it is not foreign to anyone. We need to teach simply, boldly and lovingly, When we do so, the Holy Ghost will be able to testify and manifest truth. I invite every parent who is reading this to teach their children often about Heavenly Fathers plan and how vital it is for them to understand why they are here. Children understand much more than we give them credit for. Sister Fitt and I taught a lesson to a 5 year old boy (his grandma is a member) this morning. He amazed us by how much he was able to understand and remember what we taught him. It made sense to him because once again, it was not a foreign concept to him, he was with our Heavenly Father only 5 years ago. I hope you all have a wonderful week! :)

 Love, Sister Birch :)


 As a side note, Matt loves the song "Single Ladies" by Beyonce! I am so glad she remembered that! Please if you have the chance sing it to him, play it for him, do the dance, he LOVES it!!

Aqua man, Skinny Minnie, and Smoking Blackbeard‏

YAY!! I finally got pictures from Sister Birch :)

This picture is in front of Bellas ( and Charlies ) house from Twilight.

The picture below is with her companion Sister Fitt on the Oregon Coast.

This picture is in front of the house from Goonies

Hello Hello Hello!!

I hope everyone is doing fantastic! :)

Good news, I am staying in St. Helen's for another transfer with Sisters Fitt, Thorson and Johnson. I am so, so happy! I was secretly really hoping to not get transferred. I would be totally fine with staying here for another year :) Speaking of which, I cannot believe that I have a year left! I have only been out for 6 months, but I only have 12 left. It is weird that's for sure. 

Let me tell you all a little more about St. Helens eh :) Well, there are 3 people who walk around town that everyone knows. They are named Smoking Blackbeard, Skinny Minnie and Aqua Man. Let me explain them to you: Smoking Blackbeard is an asian man with a huge long black beard. (We talked with him personally so this is all accurate :) He was diagnosed with cancer a few years back and he was told to stop smoking. Well, he wants to get healthy but he won't quit smoking. So he runs everywhere and he is always running. But, he always has a cigarette in his mouth. He is funny :) Skinny Minnie is a funny woman. She walks everywhere around town as well. She probably weighs 70 lbs and talks to herself all day. Third is Aquaman. He is truly afraid that he is going to spontaneously ignite into flames if he isn't constantly drenched in water. He too walks around town everyday all day and he always has water bottles with him that he dumps on himself. This is cool too. He got a special bed made where he is submerged in water while he sleeps. There is a little better idea for you about St. Helens :)

 

The talk I want to talk about this week is "Come What May and Love It." All of the missionaries in my district love it and I read it for the first time this week. The Lord hears our prayers. This talk answered mine. This week was honestly very difficult. Sister Fitt and I had a very hard day one of the days in particular. We both kept joking that we needed a plane ticket. We both prayed a lot to ask for strength. Yesterday, I was still not doing great. This talk gave me more joy than I can express. It brought tears to my eyes when it quoted 2 of my 3 favorite scriptures. I knew, even though it was written 6 years ago and given in general conference, that it is exactly what I, Sister Sierra Birch, needed to hear. The Lord speaks to us through his apostles and prophets. We must harken to their words. They will never lead us astray. 

My friends and family who are reading this email that are not active or members of the church, please read this section of my email knowing that I share this with all the love I can muster. I know this church is true. I know that this is Jesus Christ's gospel. I know it will bless your families. If you already feel blessed and happy, it will make you happier. If you have trials, doubts, concerns, loss of direction, anything in this life that is anything but happy, the gospel will help it substantially. Many of you may think specifically of people in the church or the church atmosphere in general where you may feel uncomfortable or have been offended; that is separate from the gospel. The gospel, the true doctrine and core of the religion that was restored through, not created or reformed, by the Prophet Joseph Smith is from Jesus Christ himself. There are many of you that I have tried multiple times to share my testimony with on Facebook, letters, etc. and you will not allow me to share it with you. My testimony is the most valuable thing that I possess. Hopefully if I share this little bit with you, you may feel of it's truthfulness. I desire, more than anything else, that my friends and family will partake of this gospel and enjoy it fully. If you have doubts about the message that I share as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints every single day, ask me questions; share your concerns; I will never, ever belittle someone who does not believe the same way as I do. I will not mock anyone or ridicule them. I simply love to share my testimony and it is only by the power of the Holy Ghost that anyone may know that what I share is true. I love you all so very much. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! 

Sister Sierra Birch  

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/come-what-may-and-love-it?lang=eng