We committed Lisa the mom to be baptized on March 8th!

Hello there!

Christmas was a good day! I took a little nap while Sister Howard called her family so it was sort of a Christmas nap haha. I fell asleep when we had breakfast at a member's house that morning too. I was really tired and there was a couch... haha. I think the holidays are really hard because it's weird getting such a long break it makes you like 100 times even more tired.

 

We had companion exchanges the next day and I had the hardest time without Sister Howard haha. It was like leaving my mom for the second time. I think that I have become a better missionary from just that one day though. So that is a good thing :)

I'm not sure I could handle speaking another language on top of being a missionary because it's already pretty difficult. I know that I'm supposed to be in Indiana! It's really awesome to be called by a prophet!

I love everything! I may need to send the animal beanies home because I can't wear those haha. They are cute though but not very missionary appropriate haha. I have been doing yoga almost every day so hopefully I can't get some of this weight off me haha. 

We go to bed at 10:30 every night and wake up at 6:30 every day. I've been sleeping pretty okay just wake up a lot during the night. I would have to say that P day might be the most stressful day haha. We just have so much to get done so we can be ready for the week. Basketball is fun and I'll probably play some today if I get done replying to my 21 letters. :) 

I'm not getting transferred don't worry! I might be in West Lafayette for 6 months haha. But that’s just what I've heard about this place is that you get stuck here forever but that is alright with me!

The family I told you about came to church this week again and we committed Lisa the mom to be baptized on March 8th! When I asked her if she would be baptized she was like "can I be baptized?" and we were like heck yes you can! She is such a sweetheart! She has already figured out what the Holy Ghost feels like and I'm just thinking that it took me like 18 years to figure that out! haha. I really hope that her family follows her example. It's still so crazy we found them! 

Oh and Jane is back in our teaching pool we are just not allowed to talk about baptism for awhile. Which is hard since that is our purpose. Her mom just passed away and her sister is probably going to pass away soon :(

Love, Sister Brooks

 More pictures from the Christmas Conference...

Heavenly Father has been blessing us for all the hard work we are doing...

Mom!

I'm so excited to Skype you all! We will be with a older couple from our ward all day for Christmas. They have an i-Pad so I think that is how we will Skype. We get 60 minutes to talk and 5 minutes to set up the appointment on Christmas Eve. We are going to go do service all Christmas day and hopefully get a nap in there somewhere because we all know that’s the only thing I really want for Christmas. It might take me a bit to write back to letters this week but I'll try! 

We had a really rough start to our week this week. I thought that I might need a therapist haha. Mission life is really stressful especially when you have no one to teach and then everyone rejects you. We had some guy anti us basically and he is a member. It's weird how things like that can make you feel physically sick when they are just words. I was just being a baby though and you know just sort of had a meltdown haha. So I just called and talked to Sister Cleveland and she helped me out a lot she is super awesome! Sister Howard made me get a blessing. At first I was like really annoyed by it because I don't want to be the needy Sister in our district. Priesthood blessings are so awesome I really need to appreciate them more because I felt so much comfort from the words of that blessing. I'm feeling so much better now I think the Christmas party may have also been a part of that haha. It was so awesome seeing all my MTC friends and just seeing I'm not the only missionary who feels inadequate. But seriously don't worry! I have my vitamins I'm okay mom :) Also I'm good on the tights I seriously have like 20 pairs of tights. 

Our week also got a lot better because we found a TRAILER PARK!!! :D haha. The best people live there! Seriously we found a family there on Saturday and taught them about the restoration. They came to church yesterday which was a really good day to come because we both gave talks. Heavenly Father has been blessing us for all the hard work we are doing. We also got a referral that seems pretty legit! I'm really working on patience because you know most of the time I'm not a very patient person. I just want them all to be baptized already. 

  

We have been caroling a lot lately and it has been so fun! It makes people willing to listen to you. We are going tonight again and probably all day tomorrow because it's still a proselyting day.

Thanks so much for all the Christmas presents! I can't wait to open them either. It's weird like having presents sitting around since we never do that. I'm so excited for Christmas! It will be an awesome day I just really hope I can nap haha.

I've been getting a lot of mail and I LOVE it! :) 

I think that’s all I got to say bout that....

I love you all and I'm so grateful for a family like you! I think about how lucky I am everyday to have you and dad! You seriously are the best parents ever! I hope that you aren't too stressed with all your holiday work. I think dad should email me too.... I miss that weirdo! 

I love you! Sister Brooks

Missionary work is awesome and I hope you all are getting on that wagon! Help the missionaries!

Dear Mommy!,         

I miss all of you too! I'm glad Dad is waiting that is very respectful :) haha. I miss music a lot and it's hard not to get worldly songs in my head I mean that was my life before haha. I can't wait for all the new music when I get back! I knew my room would be turned into some sort of gathering place haha. It's like a place to meditate and think of me ;) just teasing.

I'm feeling better I just randomly feel sick sometimes but I think it might just be stress. I have so many vitamins now though and they all really help with energy. My studies in the morning have gotten a lot better. I feel like Dad cursed me with being able to sleep anywhere though because that happens a lot more than it used to haha.

Well one day I got my boots then the next day I got like three packages. Those pictures are awesome! I got one of the picture books not sure if there were any others but I've been showing everyone Maggie Puppy and Gretta haha. One of the elders thought she was my sister haha. Thanks so much for all the cute stuff :) We got our tree all set up with our presents under it for the 12 days. We have been taking pictures every day.

Missionary work is good still not really any solid investigators which is sad. We are just working hard to find people but it is so difficult during the holidays because everyone is too busy or not even home. Tracting hasn't been too successful. We set a date for Jane to be baptized March 22 and she was all good with that and then she called and said that she thinks things are going too fast. She is very confusing but I have a feeling she will call us again. It's just been kind of a rough week with finding but it's all good it will probably be a lot better after Christmas.

The ward we are in does this really cool Christmas thing where they invite families who don't have money for Christmas into our church and there are donations of toys from ward members. The parents get to pick a toy for each kid and then wrap all of them and they also each get new pajamas, underwear, socks, blanket and things like that. It's so awesome! They get family home evening kits so it's a cool way to invite them to learn more about the church. They had all of us missionaries greet people and when they were wrapping presents we helped them and got to know them. It's cool seeing how happy this makes all of these people. They seriously all had smiles on their faces. Grandma would have loved that situation haha. The whole time I was just thinking of how much she loved Christmas and wanted everyone to have a super awesome Christmas like her family :)

Christmas this year for me is a whole lot more meaningful! I feel so selfish for the way I treated all other years because it really is all about Christ and what he did for us. I'm so grateful for his atonement and the love that he has for us. No matter how far away we are from him he wants us to come to him. I think you should check out 2 Nephi 2:4 it seriously is such a bomb scripture! 

We really do have an amazing family! I have been thinking about all of you so much. I think that I have the two greatest parents in the universe! You seriously are the best examples to me and showing me how to work hard. My brothers seriously all have some amazing Christ like attributes. I know that each of them are just teddy bears and they all have so much love for people. Bradley is so willing to serve others and same with Dallon for some reason they just love to make people laugh it might be dad's example haha. Jordan is just such a sweetheart and couldn't hurt a fly he makes everyone around him feel his love. I love you all! :) Families are seriously the best and I couldn't ask for a better one! I need more pictures haha.

Missionary work is awesome and I hope you all are getting on that wagon! Help the missionaries! I feel like the ones in Utah may be neglected. Maybe that’s just because I'm getting super star treatment here though haha.  I really have been thinking a lot about the second coming this week.... Don't want to freak you out by dang that thing is coming fast! All these missionaries going out is insane! 

Man Eric Clapton festival! The new one is out now?! Tell dad he can't watch that tell I get home and see what he says then haha. I miss music... :*( But it will all be worth it! well it already is worth it haha.

Aww Uncle Shawn! I miss that guy! Tell dad we need to visit him when we get home! I'll try and drop something in the mailbox today. 

Welp I love you all! Thanks for the letters finally! haha. I love having them I just re read them all the time. I'm so excited to skype you next week! That will be stellar! 

Love, Sister Brooks

Share with people the reason you are a member of this church!

Hello Family People!

Well the reason I haven't written any letters is because I haven't received one since I got here haha. My mailbox is empty everyday :( I actually wrote you one a few days ago though because I gave in. Thanks for the music whoever sent that :) I'm sure it was you Mother! haha but thanks we love the modesty song! The tights fit pretty well and I love the skirts! Thanks Mom! I miss Jordan! I miss Dad and all of you!!! Please write me letters :)

Well this week has been extremely cold here! My skin is getting so dry! It snowed yesterday finally. It's like dust but all the Hoosiers are freaking out haha. We did some service this week raking leaves at the Veteran’s home. I have never seen so many leaves in my life! This place is just all trees! So now my arms are pretty buff...getting on that Bradley level there... I guess these guys had been raking leaves for the past two months! But they sure weren't done. I'm not sure if they even are now because we spent about 7 hours raking. It was fun though! I really hope we can find more places to do service.

We got a new investigator named Jane! These elders passed her along to us because she wanted to be taught by sisters. She is unable to walk. She is such a sweet heart and gives us diet coke :) She has read the book of Mormon twice and knows that it is true. She just has a problem with Joseph Smith but we are hoping to solve that problem! The craziest thing happened... so we challenged her to read Matthew 7 because it talks about fruits of labors and so she only read the first few verses and got stuck on the part talking about hypocrites so she called to try and drop us because she thought we were calling her a hypocrite. She like yelled and hung up so we called and left a voice mail better explaining what we meant. I had a dream that night that she would call us back the next day and my companion was like no way she hates us haha. But guess what she called the next night and told us we could come back! So I guess dreams really do come true! haha.

Last night we had a really awesome lesson with a less active family. As we were thinking about what we should teach we first thought that we should teach the restoration. I got this feeling that we really needed to teach about God's love and prayer. So we decided we would go with that and we found out that their daughter had tried to commit suicide a few weeks ago. I really connected with that girl and I felt the spirit so strong teaching her. They were probably the craziest nicest people I have ever met. But it really made me remember why I'm here on a mission is to help others come unto Christ. 

So I also was thinking that I need to start committing my family to do things... you know being a missionary and stuff....So I would like to commit all of you and who ever reads this to share your testimony with someone by the end of this year! Share with people the reason you are a member of this church! 

I love you all! I hope that you have a great week :)

Merry almost Christmas!

  Love your Sister,   

Sister Brooks     

I like your witness...

Hello Family! 

Mom you are hilarious and I love you to death! haha. Thanks for all the packages! These boots are seriously amazing and I'm not sure if I will ever stop wearing them and my bed is so comfy and warm :) and the crescent rolls were seriously AMAZING! haha. I was so excited when I opened those!

So we ate at one of the mission president counselor’s house for thanksgiving and I took the craft and so all of us missionaries were cutting puppets out and we actually had a puppet show haha. I forgot to take pictures though :/ but I think they might be on that facebook page or something. It was a lot of fun though so thanks for that :)
 

Everyone is telling me that I'm going to need my own car for transfers haha. But there are like two things that I really want a photo album with just a ton of pictures with friends and family (and Bradley's girlfriend haha). Just like the dumb ones on facebook with like Gretta, Jake, Maria and Skyler and then just like family ones because I just want to show all of you off! haha. and I really miss looking at pictures. Then just some music because I'm going a little insane!! haha. Maybe Motab even! But seriously those packages made me so happy thanks for them all! The beef jerky and all the warm stuff it really is so awesome! I loved the little notes in them you are so cute Mom! 

My apartment is really safe we have a picture of Jesus on the front door. This lady who dropped of one of the packages was like…I like your witness and then she walked away haha. Seriously everyone here believes in Jesus which is really awesome and difficult at the same time because they all feel the need to slam doors in our faces because they think they all already know enough. But it's all good because the people willing to listen make it all worth it! We were able to teach this lady on her porch about the book of Mormon and she really wanted to learn more. I have never felt the spirit so strong as I did bearing my testimony and then she prayed and told Heavenly Father that she was so thankful for us being presented to her. It was such an amazing experience even the Polish lady next door that slammed the door in our face made me smile haha. It really is the best feeling when the spirit testifies to someone that we are servants of God and not just some weird people knocking doors.

I can't believe you sent us a Christmas tree! haha mom you are seriously so awesome! We were going to buy one today but now we are set! I guess for Christmas ideas I just want a ton of Pictures and some CD’s haha. 

We sang happy birthday to you yesterday! :) I hope it was awesome! Time is flying by! it's been a month that I have been gone this week! Crazy!  We have been working super hard on finding people because basically the previous sisters left us no investigators haha. But it's cool we are getting the hang of things and finding where everything is. We have been meeting with a lot of members just so we can get to know the ward members because the ward members here are like crazy supportive of missionary work! Some people take it so seriously it's like their second job. I love it! They are all so helpful! I'm sure they might be able to just loan me a bike haha. Our area is so big though I think that we are just going to stick with the car. We tried walking one day and it took 40 minutes just to walk to our actual area and then we had no time to even find people because we had another appointment. When we first got here we didn't have any miles to use because the sisters before also didn't leave us with any miles haha. Oh I don't know if I mentioned that I have been the driver because my companion's license expired haha. But yeah it has been annoying not having miles but it's finally a new month! So we should really be moving now and have more appointments :)

This week has been a good one! I miss you guys hope you all are doing good! Tell my brothers they should write me haha. I loved that thanksgiving book! It was so funny! I really loved Dad's turkey hand and how all of my brothers have little kid hand writing and they are all above the age of 12. But seriously it was really funny! Dolphins be like eeee eeeee haha. Sister Brooks out!

Yep I'm in West Lafayette...

Mom! I can't believe it's your 40th birthday! I remembered when we were doing weekly planning and I was like oh my gosh it's December this week! So Happy Birthday Mom! :) It is so crazy how time flies! It already has been flying for me here. Yep I'm in West Lafayette, I’m not sure that it is like a huge city haha.

It's like a big college town though. Purdue University is right here so pretty much everyone in my ward lives in mansions and are professors or graduate students there. We have been getting feed every night and I swear we go to a new mansion every day. We went to a plastic surgeons house for dinner the other day. It's really funny though because we basically live in the ghetto. Our ward is so huge like bigger than any ward that I have been to in Utah and I thought that was really crazy! There are so many members here willing to help the missionaries and they all love going to lessons with us! :) President Cleveland decided that he wants elders and sisters in every ward so we have elders in our ward too and they are extremely weird haha.

Don’t worry our apartment came fully equipped with ghetto bedding I'll send you a picture haha.

It is so freezing here so if you would like to send me more wool socks and those boots I would love you forever!!!

I miss you too! I met this lady tracting yesterday who reminded me of you like a ton except she was Catholic and didn't want us to come back haha. Oh I need to tell you guys a funny story! So my first day tracting we met a guy named Melvin and he asked us on a date to the red lobster haha! He is a really nice guy and I hope he becomes a new investigator. He actually just moved here from Chicago to get away from his gang. He was telling us how he wasn't sure if he wanted to talk about Jesus because apparently then Jesus would know all the wrong that he has done. haha.

We get to go play bingo with these cute old ladies every week and it was really funny because the lady I was playing with won like five times and she kept shoving her chocolate bars in her belly folds every time she won one and then she offered me some haha. Nasty! But seriously she is adorable!

So I'm not sure if you heard about the tornadoes in Kokomo here? But we got to do this super amazing service project there and clean up all the debris left. It was so crazy seeing all these houses totally torn up! You can probably look up about the service project I think I might be in some of the videos if you look. We got to wear the sweet Mormon helping hands vest which has always been a dream of mine! haha.

I love my companion! We are seriously like best friends already! She is super awesome! I hope you guys get to meet her someday she is from Parker Idaho. We already have like a billion inside jokes because you know that’s how I roll haha.

The people here are really nice! We met this guy Bill tracting the other day and he has 7 kids and is basically a Catholic version of a Mormon haha. I really hope we can teach his whole family! :)

I swear I'm going to get so fat the members really take care of us haha.

I miss Bradley's jokes and I met this Elder who is so much like Dallon oh my gosh! I can't even imagine him teaching people he is such a jokester haha.

We have a full P- day on Thursday and just like 3 hours today so that will be fun to get to know more people!

Well I love you guys! Write me some letters it really helps!

Happy Birthday! And Happy Thanksgiving Homies! Pray always!

Love,

Sister Brooks

Heading to Indiana Indianapolis Mission

18mths worth of luggage!!!

G-pa just "happened" to be at the airport...

I'm so excited that I get to go to Indiana on Tuesday!

Hey there family! This week has been pretty okay a lot of stress and new things. I can't wait to never eat the food in the MTC ever again because it is terrible! haha. At first it's all cool because you get cookies with almost every meal but then it gets really old and gross. Thanks for all the letters I really wish you would write me a little more than a sentence though haha. How is everyone? I feel disconnected from the outside world like we didn't even know about what happened in the Philippines until like two days ago. So yeah it would be really cool to get a hand written letter because I'm starting to go insane!

We have been talking with an investigator and we challenged her to read to book of Mormon and she said yes so that was really cool! We get to find out if she actually checked into it tonight. I see my friend Nick almost everyday which is really awesome! I get to do laundry today too! Yay! I still haven't gotten home sick yet but this place does feel a little bit like prison after watching all those prison shows! We get to go for temple walks on Sunday and I feel like a different species walking outside like everyone just stares at you haha. We actually had temple day today so that was really cool!

So ummm just let everyone know in advance that I have 20 emails so I'm not sure that I will have time to respond to everyone thats why hand written letters are the best! Thanks for all the sweets I really wish you could send me food like subway haha. I can't remember the last time I ate a decent meal. My district is really thankful for all the treats too! :) I'm so excited that I get to go to Indiana on Tuesday! Apparently I'm travel leader for my group whatever that means haha. But it will be awesome to leave. It has been really cool here but I'm ready to not be so stressed all the time and not be around so many girls. It makes me miss my dumb brothers and I'm thankful that they put up with my drama.

Elder. L. Tom Perry spoke to us on Tuesday and that was a really awesome experience hearing from and apostle right in front of my face! This week has been pretty good just kind of stressful. I love you guys! :) Hope you have an awesome week. Love, Sister Brooks

Remember who you are and what you stand for...

I've kind of been struggling with sleep and started to realize maybe it's not my phones fault that I have insomnia. haha. But I did sleep pretty well last night compared to the other night. The spirit is seriously so draining it's crazy here you feel the spirit throughout the day like every minute every hour. I really love it here! I'm so happy that I'm on a mission the Lord truly knows what is best for us and I'm so glad that he guided me here! The time here move so slow it feels like every day here equals a week on the outside. But it's also sort of a good thing because my knowledge of the gospel is kind of moving at the same time as it actually feels if that makes any sense. I feel like I know so much more already! On our first day it was kind of crazy walking through those doors I felt a happiness that I have never felt before. My face literally hurt from smiling by the end of the first day. Just so much comfort in the smiling faces of the other Elders and Sisters that I saw. We gathered in this room with what felt like a million other missionaries all from different places in the world. I felt the spirit so strong in that meeting just seeing all these other children of God who wanted to bring others unto Christ. That night we got to teach some investigators and that was a little scary although it was in a large group it's still intimidating to know what to say. It's also really strange to feel so much for love for a person you don't even know. You just want them to feel the love of their heavenly father so badly!

I really am so thankful that you raised me in the church because it really has guided me. I know that the lord loves each of us and has a plan for all of us. I really want challenge you guys to study your scriptures with a question in your heart and just take your time. If you seek the lord will help you to know so ask of him! Study your scriptures share the love that you have for others on a daily basis! What I have also learned is that we can't compare ourselves to others which is the hardest thing for me to do and I'm beginning to realize I'm a lot more like you mom in being a perfectionist in my work. I'm grateful for this but at the same time it is really hard to push through that and just being okay that some things can't go perfectly. It's really strange because I never realized that I truly am a perfectionist haha. I mean you have seen my room so you understand but it's just hard with people like not knowing exactly what to say in the moment you are teaching. I really struggled early today when we were role playing because I really felt the spirit and I just couldn't get the words out of my mouth that I wanted to say. I talked to my teacher Sister Smith about how I was feeling because it was really frustrating to me and she kind of laughed at me and told me she can see how much love I have for people and told me that she was a lot like me in the field. I felt a lot of comfort knowing that I'm not the only person to feel this way. haha. I'm sure you guys are somewhat weirded out by this email because I feel like I'm a different person already if that makes any sense?

My district here is so amazing! It is crazy how we feel like one big family already and we are all going to the same mission! So there are more sisters in our district than Elders which I find really awesome because I've never had Sisters before! I blame them for making more emotional than I already am haha. We have six sisters and four Elders who are all really awesome people. I really am kind of struggling with my companion in the MTC I love her and I feel the love she has for others but she kind of treats the gospel as a science and thats really hard for me to learn that way. I just keep telling her that the only way our investigators can feel God's love is through the spirit so we need to teach by the spirit. We can't be the teachers we are only the tools and I really don't know how to explain that to someone except for saying that. I know that Heavenly Father put us together for a reason though and I really want to help her. She actually has a twin brother which is super crazy! I really hope to learn how to understand people more and be able to make them feel loved. We have our first lesson with our investigator tomorrow and who is actually our teacher role playing but it's crazy how real it feels. He doesn't feel like our teacher he actually feels like the investigator. I'm a little bit nervous! So hopefully it goes over well.

It's really insane how I can feel so much change in my life already. My prayers are longer, my spirit is stronger and my love for others is growing. I miss you guys though it still hasn't hit me hard though haha. I'm waiting for that to come! The food here is insane like seriously we eat so much good food haha. I fasted yesterday and it was really hard because I was sitting in the cafeteria which is basically a buffet! But it was worth it because I got the answer to my prayers that I needed! I did drink the orange juice today but I'm fine so far haha. You should see the way they Elders eat it's basically a bunch of Dallon's and Bradley's running around haha. I can see why they get sick from the orange juice haha. The Elders in my district seriously eat like 10 different meals each meal. Kind of nasty. I sleep on a bunk bed so that is kind of weird and something I've never done before on the first night I slept for like 2 hours and I was ridiculously tired but I just had thoughts running through my head all night! I really hope that all is well at home! I love all of you so much! Remember who you are and what you stand for! haha.

Love, Sister Brooks

Sister Missionary Swag!

So I'm heading to Indiana November 6th! I'm pretty stoked to go out and serve the people there! :) I found a lot of the blogs that had pictures of sister missionary outfits to be inspirational so thought I would join in showing off my new clothes.

Top & Sweater: Old Navy Skirt: Sister Missionary Mall Belt: Thrift Shoes: F21

Sweater: Jcpenneys Skirt: LuLaroe Scarf: Old Navy

Top: Kohls Cardigan: Old Navy Skirt: LuLaroe

Top: Jcpenneys Skirt: Downeast Basics

Top: Jcpenneys Skirt: Sister Missionary Mall Belt: Old Navy

Dress: Mikarose I actually ordered this through sistermissionaryclothes.com

Outfit: Macys

Cardigan & Skirt: Sister Missionary Mall Top: Kohls

Sweater: Jcpenneys Skirt: Sister Missionary Mall

Skirt: Sister Missionary Mall Necklace: F21 Blazer Top: H&M

Top: Old Navy Skirt: Walmart Scarf: Jcpenneys

Top: H&M Skirt: Downeast Basics

Outfit: Mikarose ordered online at sistermissionaryclothes.com

Top: Jcpenneys Skirt: Sister Missionary Mall

Necklace: F21 Shirt: Old Navy Skirt: Downeast Basics