I know that this church is true and that it has been restored by a prophet of God through the power and authority of Jesus Christ. I know that if we need help to gain knowledge or understanding we need to pray with faith and diligence. I know that God hears our prayers and I testify that he answers us if we listen with the ears of faith. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and it is a tool for us in this life to be able to follow the example of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that this book holds the power of  truth and wisdom from God. I know that He loves us because I can feel it through the words he speaks to us in the Book of Mormon. I know Christ lives and His atonement is to help us in every moment. It is to help lift us up when we are down, to help us receive forgiveness, to give forgiveness and to help us become like Him. I know that priesthood power is the key to help live with God again. It is real and a blessing. I am so grateful for this power in my life. I am so grateful for this gospel and I am so grateful for this mission. I have learned so much and have grown so much closer to my Savior than I ever have before. I have experienced a lot of things that have helped me get to the point were I am today. I have come to know who my Savior is and understand a little bit more the love He has for me and the people here in this world; specifically for the people who are here in Peru. I love this country, these people, and am so grateful for this time I have had to be a Peruvian. It has been such a great blessing to me that I wouldn't change for the world. It is something life changing. Thank you to everyone who has helped me along the way. I love this church. I love our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know the plan He has for us is a plan full of love, trials, happiness, hardship, and blessings. I know that every step of the way is worth it and that He is walking with us. This church is true. Christ lives. In the name of Jesus  Christ, amen.

This General Conference I was able to learn a lot about the importance of faithfully following the prophet and recognizing that when he speaks it should be taken as if Jesus himself was in front of us speaking those words. He is called of God to help lead us and guide us in this time of our lives. I learned a lot about the importance of centering our lives around Christ in doing the small and simple things constantly and diligently, to always be worthy and ready to receive and act upon the guidance and teachings that come from God through the Holy Ghost. With every small and simple act of obedience and love that we do will help us grow closer to Christ and he will bless us for these acts. But to really have these small and simple things make a difference in our lives we need to do them constantly and diligently so that we will always have his spirit to be with us. This spirit will also help us complete our duty of serving his children here on the earth. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have the responsibility to stretch our hands out to those around us and share with them the invitation of Christ which is come unto Him. In 2 Nephi 25:26 we read, “We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” We can have the guidance that we need to have as members. We talk of Christ always and preach of Him in our word and examples. We rejoice in the love and grace he gives us and in the fact that we can always repent and work to live with him after this life. We should always invite people to have the blessings that we have from Christ by inviting them to His house on Sundays. We write of him in our words and actions on social media to help all have a chance to receive Him. If we do this we can work to be true disciples of Christ as we work to have his attributes in our lives and as we work to become like Him we will grow closer to Him. I know that as we repent we become humble and we can become more and more sensitive to His spirit when we receive forgiveness that He is always ready to give, but that we also need to be like Christ and forgive others to also gain the pure love of Christ and work to become his true disciples and love and serve all. I know that this church is true and that all that we heard over General Conference was revelation from our Heavenly Father. I am so thankful for this weekend and all that we were able to learn and the spirit we were able to feel. I want to share this with all of you in the name of Jesús Christ, amen. 

1) And now, these are the words of Ammon to his brethren, which say thus: My brothers and my brethren, behold I say unto you, how great reason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we started from the land of Zarahemla that God would have granted unto us such great blessings?

2 ) And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell?

3) Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how many of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work.

The joy of being used as an instrument in the hands of God is something so wonderful. We were able to help this family come unto Christ and we were able to see the light of Christ truly make a big difference  in their lives. It all started two years ago when elders went to visit them, but at that time they weren't married. Now two years later on March 2 they got married and then on March 3 they all got baptized and were able to make the changes they needed to with the guidance of Jesus Christ and His spirit in their home. They are now a lot closer as a family and all of them are a lot different but in a way that is so so good. I love this family and to hear each of them bear their testimonies and love for the gospel after seeing them get baptized is something that I will never forget. I know that this church is true and I know that the only thing that this world needs is Christ and His perfect love. I know that we all need a little bit more light in our lives and I promise that it will come from Jesus Christ, reading the Book of Mormon, sincerely praying and participating in the sacrament every Sunday. He is our Savior and he wants to save us, and he does… I have seen it! I am so grateful for my mission and all the lives I have been able to see Christ change and it is something that I would never change. I love you all and hope that you are all doing good and loving life! Thank you for all your prayers and love!! Have a great week.

Hermana Brasher

2 Nephi 3:24 “And there shall rise up one mighty among them, who shall do much good, both in word and in deed, being an instrument in the hands of God, with exceeding faith, to work mighty wonders, and do that thing which is great in the sight of God, unto the bringing to pass much restoration unto the house of Israel, and unto the seed of thy brethren.”  I am so grateful for this scripture and really we can apply it to each and every one of us… that God put us here to lift us up and make us powerful to do what it is that He needs to do. Here in the mission I have been able to see the truth of this a little more clearly. We need to trust in His knowledge, His guidance, and His love for each and every one of us. I know that each of us has something important to do here on earth and in this life; to work miracles and help people come unto Him and feel this love. Along with that, He chooses us to do His work knowing our weaknesses but with the intent to make them our strengths. (1 Nephi 20:10) I know we experience what we do to become who He needs us to be and to do what he needs us to do. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to work for the Lord, working to become purified in this life to enjoy the love and peace after. We are sent here to be lifted up and work mighty works among those we love and with those that are in our life. I know that this church is true and that God is our loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is our Savior waiting for us to invite Him into our lives and let him lift us up and purify our faults. I love this gospel and I know the Book of Mormon is true and that it can really bring a love and joy into our lives. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week! 

January 8, 2018

My studies this week have really helped open my eyes as to what the significance is of reconciling ourselves unto God. One verse that really helped me was James 4:7, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” For me to reconcile myself unto  Christ and my Heavenly Father is to really become a team with them. To make my wants, wishes, and desires the same as those that they have for me. Also, to really repent for what I need to do, but it is a little bit more then just repentance, it is to really give yourself to God in the repentance process. All of this is possible thanks to one person, our Savior. Which brings us to the first thing that we all need to do and it is to build our relationship with Christ. Helaman 5:12 teaches us to make Him our foundation, not to work against Him but to work with Him,  to humbly use the power of the atonement of Christ in our lives and to become one with Him, to reconcile our hearts unto Him and join the team! It is something that I have started but I am nowhere near to ending. I know that Jesus is our Savior and that our salvation is all possible thanks to Him if we follow his example and do what we all know we need to be doing. I love Him and am so grateful for the opportunity to be living my life working on reconciling myself to Him. I am grateful to be on the team with my Father in Heaven and my Savior, Jesus Christ. I have the confidence that they will help guide my way and teach me what I need to do. I love you all and hope that all is well in your homes and families I hope you have been able to start you year 2018 with laughs, hugs, and motivation to do what it is you need to do! Have a great week and know I love you all!

Hermana Brasher

Luke 9: 23-24

23¶And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 

24For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 

What I love about this little section of scripture is it says that we need to take up His cross DAILY and follow Him. It isn’t an every once in a while thing,  it is waking up every day ready to do the will of our Savior and to wear His name on our hearts, ready to be disciples of Him and serve Him with the love and gratitude that we have for all that He has done. One of the things we can do is serve all the people that we have in our lives and He has instructed us to serve Him and feed His sheep IF we love Him, as we learn in John 21:15-17. Do you love your Savior? How are you feeding His sheep? There are so many blessing promised to those disciples of Christ but because of this it isn't easy, it’s hard and we need a few of those attributes of Christ to help us do it the way He would. In Alma 7:23 we are given the keys as to what it is that we need.  23) And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive. I love this verse, it teaches us about the Christ-like attributes that we need to develop to be His disciple, to serve Him and be an example to those that we have in our lives. This week I was able to learn about patience, a lesson I am grateful to have. We had a hard week and I was a little discouraged with the lack of help that I was given throughout the week and I had a day where I was ready to be done and did not want to get to work and then the spirit taught me that I need to become more humble and find more patience in my heart for my Savior and his promises but also for his children. To be humble, patient, and diligent isn’t easy, but it is worth it because we can feel a pure joy from our Father in Heaven when the blessings do come. I am so grateful for the spirit in my life and all that he does to teach and guide me. I am thankful for the scriptures and all that I am able to learn from them to help better myself as a disciple of God. I love you all and hope that all of you have a great week and have a chance to notice the hand of the Lord in your life.

In 1 Nephi 20:10 it says, "For Behold, I have refined thee. I have chosen the in the furnace of affliction."  When I read this verse it really spoke to me in the way that I have been chosen to be here at this time with these people and these hardships and to be refined by my Heavenly Father. He knows exactly what afflictions I need to have to learn and to grow and to become the person that I want to be and also the person that He needs me to be. I know that it is not just this way for me but for all of us. We are chosen for this time, these people we have in our lives, and the difficulties that we have in our paths to learn and to grow closer to our Savior. In the talk by Elder Stanely E. Ellis he spoke about the importance of trust, and the trust that we put in our Father in Heaven and the fact that He is with us every step of the way. He taught us how the difficult times in this life are good if we react to the them in a positive way and fall back on the trust we have in our Heavenly Father to help us push forward and learn all it is that we need to to reach his presence after this life here on the earth. It is the difficult times that change us because when we struggle we learn better, especially when we include Jesus Christ in our struggles and learn how to apply his atonement into our lives. I know all of this is true. I know that we grow from the afflictions that we are given and I know that in these afflictions and hardships Christ is refining us, making us perfect, teaching us things, changing us, so that we can become like Him and be able to reach his presence after we endure all that we need to in this life. I am so thankful for the conference weekend that we had and I am so thankful for the things that I learned and the spirit that I felt. It was something that I truly needed in my life at this moment. This is our time now! We were chosen for this time, to change us, to change others, and to all be able to grow together and closer to Christ. It is our time to be refined by our Savior. He chose us for now. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Hermana Brasher

This week I was reading a talk by Elder C. Scott Grow titled, “And This is Life Eternal.”  This talk was something that opened my heart a little bit more to the question: How well do we really know our Heavenly Father? In the talk it goes over things that we need to be doing and can be doing to know our Heavenly Father a little bit more and more everyday. Because He knows us perfectly and we should also want to know Him perfectly and we can get there. I love our Heavenly Father and I have been given the opportunity to grow so close to Him in the past 10 months, but I know that there is so much more that I need to learn. I know that we can learn these things as we prayerfully do the simple things. One of the points in the talk was that we read the scriptures and learn more about Him and His blessings, promises and commandments.  As we do His will, we will be able to grow closer to Him through the little or big sacrifices that we make to fulfill the will of the Lord. One of my favorite points was to become more like our Savior by following his example. I know that if we want to grow closer to Christ we just need to try and that will be enough. Heavenly Father doesn't need us to be perfect, just to have a perfect desire to do what is right in our heart and to always press forward in becoming more like our Savior everyday. I know that this is true and I am so thankful for this… for the opportunity to try, and to just keep trying. 

I have a new companion, I am training Hermana Mamani and it has been harder. She gets emotional when she gets frustrated and doesn't want to do things anymore. Its hard for me to get her out of bed in the morning and I am needing to push and teach so she can know more, but in these times as well she gets frustrated because she then feels like she doesn't know anything and then I want to stop pushing and teaching but then she won’t learn so I am just trying to learn as well... it is making me a better missionary.

This Sunday was hard. We went early in the morning to pick up all of our investigators for church and not one of them was home like they said they would be.  After church we had a lot of awesome appointments to find these new families and not one of them was home and at 8:00 I just wanted to go visit this family that I know always has food for us and finish my night. But, we were walking by this door and I just felt like I should knock on it and this sweet oldish lady opened the door and said come in, come in... and we didn't even say anything. They invited us to sit down and answered all of our routine questions before we could even ask them and then we taught them and they accepted the Book of Mormon with open hearts and told us that we could come and visit them again. They laughed with us, answered our questions, and helped me to remember that Heavenly Father is watching and he knows that we are just trying.

We had a baptism this Saturday for Carmen Verano and it was awesome. Our ward really participated and it was one of the best baptisms I have had with our ward participating.

I love our Savior, our Father in Heaven and this gospel in Spanish and in English… with all my heart. I love all of you and am so thankful for you in my life! Have a wonderful week full of blessings and have a fun time being good people.

Hermana Brasher

Hermana Brasher & Hermana Mamani

One thing that I have learned is how to really change to become the person that I want to be and it really is through one thing and it is through my Savior and the testimony that I have of Him.  I know that it is through the experiences that I have through and with the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ in my life I will be able to learn, grow, and progress in the way that I want to but also in the way my Father in Heaven needs me to. President Monson teaches us that in these days the testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ will be the thing that saves us in these last days and I know that it is so true. If we really want to change our lives and BECOME better people, BECOME  more like Christ, and GROW closer to Him we need to learn how to use the power of His atonement in our lives and build our testimony of him through the Book of Mormon and through our confidence that we have in him. I am so thankful for the help and comfort we can receive through Him in these days. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the spirit that it brings into my day when I start my day out by studying and reading the words that contain so much love and power for us from our Heavenly Father. I love you all and hope you have an amazing week and grow closer to YOUR Savior all the day long.

This weekend I was able to learn something very special. In alma 31 (i think, its ether 30,31 or 32) Alma talks about the joy he feels for the people he is serving and the joy he feels in the success that Heavenly Father has blessed him with. This week I was able to experience something a little like this joy I  imagine Alma was talking about. Hermana Alcocer and I have been working with a family for the last five months, the dad got baptized but the mom didn't and she had been really hard to try to help. This Sunday we had a conference with some of the 70s in our area and Elder Cook and the spirit that was in this meeting was so strong. Afterwards, our zone was having a big group baptism and we invited them to come. Hermana Alcocer and I felt like we should once again invite this mom to get baptized. There was a pause and she just said okay Hermanas but I want to go first. I can not even tell you how happy my heart was to see her get baptized and to see her husband so so happy to be able to reach the goal of having their family together forever. I know the joy that I felt through the rest of my Sunday was from our Heavenly Father and that there is nothing of this world that can truly help us feel the happiness that we can feel from doing the things our Heavenly Father needs us to do. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have been able to have to work with this family and watch them go from something that made life and marriage look absolutely no fun to something truly beautiful. I am so grateful for the spirit and the miracles that come and I am even more grateful to have this time to be a part of those miracles and the time that I have to feel this joy! I love you all and I hope you all get to experience a little bit of this joy of God  this week.

Hermana Brasher

August 7, 2017

Hola familia y amigos! como esta? porque yo estoy bien en Peru viviendo la vida de una peruana!!!! I hope that you have all had a good summer and have been living the good life! This week was good, all I can really remember is the walking but I know that things happened and blessings were recognized and that the love of our Savior has been felt. I just want to let you all know how important it is that we truly build a relationship with our Savior in our lives. Because in Helaman 5:12 it tells us how important really this relationship is for our well being in this life and for us to have the strength to endure to the end. I know that our Savior will be that person that helps us push through. I know He is the person that helps us push through and that no one else can help us like He helps us! I love Him and I am so thankful for Him in our lives. I know that the relationship that we have with him is vital and so important. In the last talk of President Monson he said that this testimony that we have of Christ and his power in our lives is that thing that is going to get us the the glory we all want after this life with our families. I know that this is true and I know that the better we come to know our Savior the better we will be in this life. I love you all and I hope that you are doing well and enjoying life and enjoying doing the right things in this life as well! 

Hello everyone! Buenos tardes de Peru. Today I want to share my thoughts with you on the power of prayer and that it is really something we can do to help us change our lives. The power of prayer all works depending on our heart and our faith. If we are just praying real fast in our blankets because you forgot... you are just gong to be completing the commandment of prayer, but we should be really taking advantage of this blessing that we have to talk to our Father in Heaven and use our heart. At first it might seem silly but He really wants to hear about your day and if you don't really know what to to say just start walking in through your day, but talk from you heart and you will really have the spirit with you in your prayers. If you are speaking from your heart with your faith you will really start to change the relationship that you have with your Father in Heaven and you will be able to start growing stronger and stronger with him every night and morning. Tell him in the mornings of your plans for your day and in these moments you will find things that you are grateful for and  questions and directions that you need. the more specific we are with our prayer the more specific our answers and direction will be. I know I need to keep working on it and that really it is something we all need to master. I invite all of you this week to really pay attention to your prayers and to really work on putting a little bit more heart and faith into the words you are saying and GET ON YOUR KNEES!!!  The love you are going to start feeling is going to change your days little by little . I love you all so so much and I hope you all have a great week.

Hermana Brasher

Hello world and good afternoon or night. I am so happy to be here in Peru sharing this gospel and really learning a lot more everyday...more than I think my investigators are learning, but that is okay. Today I want to talk to all of you about the impotancia de the doctrina de cristo. This is the fe, arrepentimiento, bautismo, el done del esiritu santo,y endure to the end. with these three things we really have the guidance that we need to keep us on the path but why does it all start with faith? For me I think it starts with faith because it is our own sort of power. As we exercise our faith in prayer, studying the scriptures, and repenting we receive blessings and strength to accomplish the work. Faith and trust in our Heavenly Father will really make all of these things happen. Faith will help us grow to really know our Savior beyond the things that everyone knows about Him.  It will help us grow close to Him personalmente. I know that this is true, and once we have this love we will be able to really have that contrite spirit and broken heart, the two things we need for repentance. Repenting is really feeling sorrowful and having a plan for how we are going to change our hearts and grow closer to Him. Repentance is also the journey of becoming more like our Savior and really making a permanent change in our hearts. This change is something that we need to have daily. Baptism from someone who holds the priesthood of God and the gift of the Holy Ghost will help us endure to the end. I think the reason why we talk about enduring to the end last is because we truly need the first four things to endure in the way our Heavenly Father needs us to endure this life with Him by our side. I know that the doctrina de cristo will help us stay on the path that we need to stay on but we also need to know for ourselves and have our own experiences. I know that as we start to gain more knowledge of the importancia of these things in our lives we will recognize the strength and guidance these things can be for us. 

I love you all and I just want you to know that this church is true and that these are the days that we need to be heñlping in every way, finding ways to invite others to come unto Christ because the success is in the invitation and so that is what we need to do, that is why we have the blessings of this gospel in our lives. 

This week was crazy and lots of things keep happening in my life that help me know without a doubt that this work is of our Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for all your support and prayers and I hope that all of you guys have a fantastivce week and learn something new that will help us all grow closer to our Savior! Love you all!!!

Hermana Brasher

It keeps getting more and more cold and I didn't think I was going to have coldness here in Peru but there is! This week I have had the wonderful opportunity to learn about the importance of harmony in the home with the Holy Ghost in the relationship of the mother and the father. It is really amazing what a difference it makes in our homes when there is the spirit present. I have been very blessed to always have the gospel and spirit welcomed in my home ( with having 7 siblings the spirit was a little hard to feel at times lol but it was always welcomed back quickly by my loving mother) and with this blessing I truly grew to take for granted this blessing but I can testify that this spirit does change the lives and the homes of people. If we do the things that we know we need to do our hearts and relationships will be a safe place for the spirit to dwell. With this spirit we are going to be able to receive the guidance and the direction that we need for our families and for our own lives. We will be able to recognize the hand of our Savior in our lives a little faster and have Him present in our homes. I know I am probably just singing to the choir but I just want you to all know that what you have is truly so so special and we need to make sure we cherish it. Those who don't have this spirit so much in their homes I just want you to know that it is so worth the work to have this feeling of love, safety and peace in the home. I love you all so so much and hope you are all living it up this summer time!!!! Keep praying and doing what is right!

Hermana Brasher

This week has gone by crazy fast and here we are on another p-day. This week was a good one but I don't really remember what happened.  I loved studying a talk from general conference from Elder Hales. It was about being disciples of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and it talks about the importance of those Christ-like attributes that we need in this life... but not only to have them, but to have them woven into who we truly are in this life and truly strive to become what He wants for us. I remember really liking what he said about virtue, but I don't remember exactly what it was so you all have some homework!!!! Go read, listen,  or watch this talk again and decide what it is you are going to change about yourself this week to slowly but surely change your heart to become a little closer to our Savior in this life and let Him change you because the joy that we will feel when we let our Savior change our hearts will be so sweet and pure! I am so thankful for the guidance of the Savior in our lives but also the words of our prophets and apostles! I know that they are men truly inspired by our Heavenly Father to teach and guide us to do those things that are going to help us be strong in these times of hardship. I love you all and can’t wait to hear your experiences of how our Savior can change our hearts!

Hola from Peru! I hope all of you dads had a wonderful fathers day. This week was good, crazy, and at times a little slow but in the end everything worked out! This week I was able to really grow more of an appreciation for the sacrament and how lucky we are to participate in this powerful but simple ordinance every week. The sacrament is really such a blessing for us and can help us in so many ways. The sprit that we have the ability to feel in this short amount of time every Sunday is so strong and so pure that we can recharge ourselves spiritually and get ready for all the things that we have coming for us this next week. But we also really have the time to think about our past week and realize what it is that we really need to do to change our lives and better ourselves and ask for the help of the Lord to do these things and He is right there listening to all of our thoughts and prayers ready to help us with whatever it is that we really need help with. We are able to feel of the love that he has for us a little stronger then we can in any other time during the week. I am so thankful for His love and His guidance and that we are able to have this short little bit of time every Sunday to soak up that spirit that is available to us. I love you all!!! I hope and pray that all of you are doing well that you are happy and loving these summer months! Thank you guys for everything and have a crazy week!!! 

Hermana Brasher