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