Mary's Mission Letter Aug 20, 2012

Barev Family!  It sounds like your week was good-especially your
weekend. I can't believe that the Haslam boy is home already!! It
seems like he just left!  I was surprised to hear how short Dad's
surgery was-and I'm glad everything is going well.  Is his foot also
healing well?  I always love stake conference-and it sounds like it
was another great one! Sounds like some great speakers-Chad, Callee,
Pres. Christiansen-I think I could always happily listen to them! And
I'm excited to hear that Callee's mission papers are starting to
progress again-I've gotton a couple of letters from her and it sounds
like things are going well, despite that it's hard.  I wrote her back,
but I don't know when she'll get it.  Brian and Becky are adopting? As
in Brian Preece? I had no idea! That is so great! Congrats to them!
I have a few things I've gotten for you all for Christmas-ornaments
and a couple other things, but I haven't decided whether or not I
trust the mail service enough to send them-I'll let you know what I
decide, but if I decide not to send it-would you all be ok waiting
another year for it all?
What a week! And what a week we have ahead of us!  Anik came to church
yesterday and it was so great!  I feel like she is already feeling
apart of the branch and is comfortable there! She also brought her
little granddaughter and she had a great time!  She passed her
interview with our district leader for her baptism!!!! YAY!!! She has
to meet with President Carter because she's had a few abortions-it's
so sad, because abortions are a regular part of the culture here and
nearly every woman has had at least one, if not many.  I'm so grateful
for the knowledge of the gospel-that we've been given the opportunity
to repent and that we truly know and value that we are children of our
Heavenly Father. We talked to her after her baptismal interview and
she told us how good and warm she felt and how happy.  I am so excited
for her!  Yesterday as I was sitting in church I just felt so
overwhelmed with joy and peace as I thought about the progress that
she has made and the immense love I feel for her and her family.  I
feel so blessed to have helped teach her! It truly is remarkable!  We
are so blessed!
We also had a less active family come to church for the first time in
6 or 7 years! We were THRILLED to see them there-especially because
we've been working with them for the last few months.  It was so neat
to see the joy that was evident in their faces at being back to
church.  The mom just began crying as she was greeted by many of our
members.  I was reminded how everyone has a place in the fold of the
gospel and how precious each and every person is to our Heavenly
Father.  We had a good Sunday, to say the least.  I was just smiling
and felt like crying at the joy I felt!  This gospel really is
amazing!
Some of our members also had the opportunity this last week to get
their partriarchal blessing.  The Patriarch lives in Russia, so he is
only here every so often.  The members that received it were just
beaming!  What a neat opportunity!  And how neat for those of us who
already have received our blessings, that we can continually read,
ponder, and experience those feelings of comfort time and time again.
Have you read your blessing lately?
I read Pres. Eyring's talk from this last conference and there were
just a couple of things I want to share.  He talks about building our
foundation on Christ because that is truly where we find our strength.
 He says, "If the foundation of faith is not embedded in our hearts,
the power to endure will crumble."  He then talks about how
consistently choosing right creates solid ground.  It's back to that
diligence thing-if we pray daily, study daily, weekly attend church,
komats komats we grow-we are strengthend and we become more like our
Savior.  "It is serving God and others persistently with full heart
and soul that turns testimony of truth into unbreakable spiritual
strength." "If we have faith in Jesus Christ, the hardest as well as
the easiest times in life can be a blessing."  I was just thinking how
yes, life is a challenge, but how if we are built on Christ, we will
all be just fine-and we will find those learning opportunities and
blessings everywhere.  We really are so blessed!
I know, without a doubt The Book of Mormon is true. The Holy Ghost has
testified to me many times, and I have felt the power of that book.
This is Christ's church-we truly have the fullness of His gospel.  He
is our Savior and through Him all things are possible.
I love you all!  I hope you have a great week and that all goes well!
You are constantly in my prayers!

Alma 38:10-14

Love you!
Metz sirov,
Sis. Broadbent