Beth's Mission Nov 27 Round Rock 10

This week was a great week! 

We were able to do a lot of service from helping Sister Owen's with her Etsy business, to painting the older women's nails at the Living Center, to preparing food for the homeless and needy on Thanksgiving, to helping a less active in our ward decorate one of her four Christmas trees!! It was a great and busy week!

First, Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope that everyone was able to eat lots of food and especially recognize the things that you are grateful for! There is so much that we have to be grateful for! I was reading a conference talk from President Monson on the attitude gratitude. "A grateful heart, then, comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring into our lives. This requires conscious effort—at least until we have truly learned and cultivated an attitude of gratitude."

I have realized once again the blessing of agency! We choose if we want to be happy, if we want to be grateful, if we want to be obedient, if we want to serve others, if we want to share the gospel. We have the power to choose! It is such a blessing to reevaluate our choices and choose to align our will with Heavenly Father's!

This week we were able to have a pass off lesson with the YSA Elders for Ryan and Preston! We had a great lesson about the Book of Mormon and they went to church again yesterday! We are so excited to see how they grow in the gospel!

Yesterday we were able to have a lesson with a new investigator referral from a young man in our ward. Her name is Bailey and she has a lot of friends in the church. We taught the Restoration and it went so well! She agreed to read the Book of Mormon and we will be meeting with her again! So great! The spirit was so strong as we quoted the Joseph Smith's account of the First Vision. It was so powerful. I love the peace and strength that the spirit brings. I know that Joseph Smith truly did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that beautiful morning. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true! I am so grateful for the love and strength that I have felt from my Heavenly Father! I know that as we truly turn to Him and have faith, we will be able to become who He needs us to be and we will be able to get through anything with the Savior on our side!!

We are so blessed!!

I am so grateful for this gospel!

Also this week the Light the World launch video came out!!! If you haven't seen it, go watch it!!! It is amazing!! There is a calendar of 25 ways to serve over the 25 days until Christmas starting December 1st!! It will be so awesome!! How can you light the world?

I am so grateful for each and every one of you and for the love and support that you give me! I have truly felt your love and prayers and I am so grateful!

I hope that all is well! Have an absolutely wonderful week!!!

I love you all!!

Love,

Sister Broadbent

I forgot to tell you about my birthday! 

It was such a great day!!

We had a wonderful ward council, then church was amazing.The primary sang to me super loud and it was so cute and amazing! Loved it!!

Then we decorated Christmas trees and it was awesome!

Then we had dinner with the Creers and it was so great! Her mom made me a homemade double layer German Chocolate cake and it was absolutely amazing! Thank you for the cake mix and recipe as well!! We will be making that soon!

And she gave me a neckalace and candy! So kind!! (Oh! Thank Cari for sending me those earrings!! They are so cute!!! Love them!!)

After dinner we went to our lesson with Bailey which was so good!!!!

Then we went to share the Light the World video with familes and it was awesome! We stopped at the Lowe's house and they gave us ice cream and she gave me lotion and stuff! So kind!!

It was such a great birthday! Definitely one to remember!! I was thinking about you and the family all day and I am so grateful for you!! 

Thank you for everything!!

I love you!!!

Pictures:

1. Sister Hill and I on exchanges!

2. Thanksgiving with the Bjarnason's!!

3. Decorating a 12' Christmas tree!!

4. We set up our Christmas tree and nativities today!!

Beth's Mission Nov 20 Round Rock 9

This week was quite the week! Full of ups and downs! It's amazing how the ups ALWAYS far out weigh the downs!! Especially as we turn to our Father in Heaven and open our eyes to the Joy and Blessings He gives us!!

During Exchanges this week, Hermana Hill and I went out finding and contacting and it was a great day! We went "Chalking" at a park (which Sister Watt and I did again with a returned missionary in our ward and it was awesome!) As Sister Hill and I were out, we tried to talk to everyone and then there were three people that we passed that we felt so bad for not talking to! We decided to repent and made the determination to talk to every person that we came in contact with and we did!! Then we found Preston and Ryan! They are brothers who expressed interest in learning about Christ and agreed to have us come back! It was a miracle!

The Next day Sister Watt and I had a lesson with them! Ryan is more interested than his brother Preston, and it was good to get to know him and teach him about the Restoration! 

Then on Sunday they both came to church!

Sunday was a crazy but great day!

We got up and planned and got ready and just as we were about done getting ready, we got a call from our District leader saying that one of the Elders in our Zone was sick and they had to go do exchanges and they might need us to go to their ward to cover for an activity they had for Primary! We got things situated and luckily the Hermanas could give us a ride, but then as we were driving they called us back and said we didn't need to go anymore! So we went back home! We did Personal Study and Training and then a member picked us up for Church! Then Ryan and Preston came to church! We weren't expecting Preston to come, but it was so great to have them both there!

 It's kind of an interesting situation because they are YSA aged young men, and so we will be passing them off to the YSA Elders- but the YSA ward just got dissolved, and now one YSA Ward is covering 4 stakes! It's all been kind of crazy! We were grateful that they came to church and are hoping that they are truly interested in learning more about the restored gospel!

This week I have been reminded again and again that Heavenly Father truly has the full plan! Everything that happens is for a reason! Every good or bad thing, everything is in His plan and he truly knows each of us in our individual needs! How great is the Plan of our God!

This week I have also been reminded to Find Joy in everything and to be grateful for the seemingly little things just as much as the bigger things! There are so many blessings everywhere if we will open our eyes and look for things to be grateful for!! I have been reminded of President Uchtdorf's story about finding Joy in the Journey in his talk, "Of Regrets and Resolutions." One portion I love is, 

"We shouldn’t wait to be happy until we reach some future point, only to discover that happiness was already available—all the time! Life is not meant to be appreciated only in retrospect. “This is the day which the Lord hath made … ,” the Psalmist wrote. “Rejoice and be glad in it.”

Brothers and sisters, no matter our circumstances, no matter our challenges or trials, there is something in each day to embrace and cherish. There is something in each day that can bring gratitude and joy if only we will see and appreciate it." 

There is always something to be grateful for! I hope in this season and always we can truly Count our many blessings!

 

I love you all so much!! I am so grateful for each and every one of you!! I hope that you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving!!

Love,

Sister Broadbent

Pictures:

1. Sister Watt and I featuring our "Friendship Bracelets" that I made

2. Sister Watt and I again featuring her fish tail braids she let me do

3. One portion of our "Chalking" -I'll try to send more later or next week!

Beth's Mission Nov 13 Round Rock 8

 This week was a pretty great week!!

We had a lot of people give us their left over Halloween candy and other treats this week! Add that to the wonderful dinners members give us and I don't think we'll ever go hungry! Definitely eating well! I'm very grateful for their generosity and kindness, but we have definitely had to be more aware of our exercise and what we eat at home! Haha the members are so great though and I truly am so grateful for their willingness to feed us!

On Tuesday we had dinner with a less active woman in our ward whose oldest daughter is also less active that we are working with to get to the Young Single Adult Ward, and whose youngest daughter is not a member! It was so great! Venessa is really working on coming back to church and she wants to bring her whole family with her! Including her non-member husband! The Dinner we had with the girls was great! We brought Jasmine with us (the YSA recent convert) and she really connected with Skylar and we are praying for good things! We talked with Meghan and hopefully things will work out for her as well!! Overall it was a very successful evening!

That is probably the biggest thing that happened last week for the lessons we had. Abraham had to cancel his lesson due to flight plans being delayed. And Hailian also had to cance due to being sick! However! We did find a new family this week!! We were out contacting a potential who thanked us for bringing a little Utah to her door  and then we decided to knock on one of her neighbors down the street. They answered and even though they didn't have a lot of time to talk right then, they listened to us and agreed to have us come back! We are excited!

We have three lesson planned for tomorrow all before Noon!! It will be a great morning and we are exicited to have three different members come out with us as well!! One of them is a recently returned missionary who just got back from serving her mission is Seattle! She is so cute and has already helped us so much!

Great things are happening in Walsh Ranch!

It always amazes me how important it is to have a good attitude! Through the disappointments and discouragement, if we keep a positive attitude and trust in God that everything will work out then it will! We have the right to be happy! If you aren't happy, before blaming others or your circumstances, maybe take a step back and look at how you are feeling and how you can change the way you feel. That has been something that has been on my mind this week and oftentimes, all that needs to be done is for me to change my attitude, look on the bright side, find joy in EVERYTHING- even the hard and bad things, and realize that everything is part of Heavenly Father's Plan of Happiness!! "Men are that they might have Joy!"

2 Nephi 9:18 "But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever."

What a promise! I know that as we "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ" trusting in the Great plan of our God, we will be blessed beyond the joy that we can feel now!

I love you all so much! Thank you for your support and strength that you give! I hope that you all have a wonderful week this week and I invite you to find someone or someway that you can serve and show your gratitude for others and for Heavenly Father in this holiday season!

Love, 

Sister Broadbent

Pictures:

1. It's been rainy and chilly here! Enjoying the cool weather!

2 & 3. Huge cinnamon rolls that members gave us!!

4. After a wonderful and long day of exchanges with Hermana Ferrell!

5. Some huge mushrooms that we saw while we were out walking one day!

Beth's Mission Nov 6 Round Rock 7

This week was a crazy, great, week full of tender mercies!!!

First- Happy November!!

And Happy Belated Halloween!! I hope it was great and safe for everyone!

We spent our Halloween night cleaning the house of our recent convert Bill! We had 9 missionaries cleaning with us and it was quite the adventure!!

From Monday to Wednesday we were in a trio with Hermana Ferrell! It was so fun! We got to visit some of the Spanish members and contacts in her area and it was awesome! Made me want to learn Spanish even more!! It was a crazy few days figuring out transfer info and Sister Training Leader info and everything else! We had a lot of fun though!

On Thursday Hermana Ferrell went to pick up her new companion Hermana Hill!! She is so cute!! She went to the MTC in Mexico and is from West Jordan, UT and is just so awesome!! We got to spend most of the day together on Friday because Sister Watt and Hermana Ferrell had to go down to San Antonio for the Mission Leadership Conference! Sister Hill and I had a great day together and I am excited to get to know her better and go on more exchanges with her this transfer!!

This week on Monday we had another lesson with Abraham! We were able to go over and read the Intro to the Book of Mormon with him and discuss some of the questions that he has been having. We talked about the great importance of going to church, praying daily, and reading the scriptures everyday (aka CPR- Church, Prayer, Reading) He hasn't been able to read due to work and other committments, but I think the lesson really helped him to understand why he needs to read! He even said that if he finds out the Book of Mormon and what we teach is true that he will get baptized! We've talked about baptism in every lesson so far and now he just needs to exercise his faith and find out for himself if it's true! We are excited to continue teaching him!! And next Sunday he doesn't work and will hopefully be at church and at our Cottage Meeting that night!!

On Friday we had our last lesson with Bill! He has officially taken all of the lessons before and after his baptism! He is doing so great! He has a calling as a teacher in the High Priests, he has had some great experiences going home teaching, and he is a fellowship for Abraham and a less active in the ward! He is doing great things to continue to strengthen his faith and it is so great to see the warmth and welcoming spirit from the ward! He is excited to be preparing for the temple and is also preparing to receive his Patriarchal Blessing! It has been so neat to see the strength and happiness that has come from his decision to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized!

This week we have really been trying to find the tender mercies that Heavenly Father gives- They are everywhere!! From the beautiful world He has given us, to the answers to prayers as we find new people and new investigators! He truly is aware of us and cares so much about us! 

Because of the crazy week, we weren't able to find or contact as many people as we usually do. So on Saturday both Sister Watt and I (without knowing) had personally prayed for specific things like finding at least 10 new people, finding 1 new investigator, and using the little Spanish that we know to help someone find the gospel. All of our prayers were answered!! We talked to over 10 new people, we found 1 new investigator- Larry- who we are excited to teach, and we were able to talk to a Hispanic gentlemen and give him the Hermanas information!! These things were just little, but it strengthened my testimony so much! I know that Heavenly Father truly answers our prayers if we pray in faith and show that we are willing to act upon the promptings we receive!! 

One of the scriptures that has made an impact on me is D&C 6:36 "Look unto me in every thought. Doubt not, Fear not." I know that as we are truly remembering Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in all things and noticing all the blessings they give us, we will have no need to doubt or fear.

I am so grateful for this gospel!!

I hope that all is well!! I hope that you have a wonderful week!! Keep Smiling!!

I love you all so much! Thank you for everything!!

Love,

Sister Broadbent

Pictures:

1. Happy Halloween!!

2. Our trio!! So fun!

3. Sister Watt and I matched and didn't even plan it!! Socks and everything!

4. Cute Hermana Hill!!