My mission president is going to let me Skype teach!

Hello!

So this week I got some sort of virus or something. I thought I had strep it wasn't fun but I'm finally over it thank goodness it was rough but we still met most of our teaching goals. 

Zone conference went good just role played for like 8 hours straight and we were all extremely exhausted and stressed out because they filmed all of our role plays. We had to watch them back and it was pretty awful to see yourself on camera haha. But we did learn how to be better missionaries. Basically role plays for dayz. 

I'm excited G-pa & Debbie are getting married! You guys need a cut out of me there :) haha. 

So I already told you this but for everyone else who reads these emails or whatever my mission president is going to let me skype teach! :D YAY! So dear friends and family who want to learn more about what I do as a missionary or what we believe I'm allowed to set up skype appointments. Pretty much the most exciting news! I found out yesterday and it was hard to sleep thinking about it. Missionary dreams are pretty wild man. My companion says whenever I talk in my sleep I'm teaching or planning lessons haha. 

You should film Dallon's game for me :) That would be pretty great! I wish I could be there. Every time we drive by football players I always wish I could watch them play haha. I never even thought I really liked football but I miss it now. 

Johnny and Lone Eagle were at church this week! Sister Oskins gave a talk this week so it was sitting in the middle of them and I just thought missionaries are weird. We bring the coolest people to church with us though :)

We had the BBQ this last weekend and Lone Eagle came and played cornhole.. he beat me. I did get one beautiful throw in there thought you should have heard the crowd! haha. #btdubs cornhole is the game of the hoosiers they love that game.

It rained super bad so we didn't have fireworks which was really sad but it was still fun. I played basketball until 9:30 since we already had permission to be out. I felt like such a rebel! living on the edge for sure haha. 

Well I love you and hopefully all goes well for Saturday Skype lesson! 

Love,

Sister Brooks

 I made little cheesecakes for district meeting. I really felt like my mother in that moment haha

 on exchanges with Sister Vidmar 

 Steven scares me on a regular basis

(only Sierra names a  scary doll after her mission President!)

Crystal was baptized! :)

I'm good I miss you guys a lot! How is the Maggie Puppy? You guys should fly her here sometime. haha.

Did you send a letter this week? I don't think I got one from you. Maybe I did I got a few letters this week but I can't remember who they were from. I'll check today.

Sister Petty told me Dallon made the team I was bragging about it haha. I miss my brothers! Just before I went to sleep yesterday I was like I want to watch stupid youtube videos with Dallon. The mountain dew guy!... gosh dang it I can't remember his name.. Francis? I think was Francis haha.

I really like scrapbooking if I ever have time I just cut pictures out of the ensign and scrapbook them because I'm a loser. But creating things really helps relieve stress. 

I feel like not too much happened this week. But the weekend was good...Lone Eagle came to church again and Crystal was baptized! :) We had dinner with their family afterwards and she was super happy! She said she feels like she doesn't have to worry so much about what happens after this life.

 Hopefully we can find some more new people to teach and just keep the area strong!

  

Ohhh yes the other day we went on exchanges and I was with Sister Randall and we saw a middle aged man riding a motorcycle listening to "turn down for what" I was laughing my butt off! He had it playing so loud and he was sitting at this stoplight for like 5 minutes. Rare species of old men who listen to crappy rap music haha. It was hilarious.

Well I love you guys!

Sister Brooks

Spock it and lock it. this picture is for father haha

I held a hamster!

   

I tried to take a sky selfie

So beautiful  

The best people :)  

We had 5 people at church this last Sunday!

Hello derrr!

:)

Transfers went pretty well! It was good to see some of my homies. I have one of the same zone leaders and sister training leaders as I did in West Lafayette. So that'll be wild! Just like old times but not… haha. 

R. CAME TO CHURCH! Oh my gosh! So not sure if I told you about R. but when we first got to the area I saw his teaching record in the former's and had a prompting to call him. He was all about us coming over and teaching him. He is a recovering drug addict and he tends to lie a lot. He kept telling us he was ready to be baptized and start coming to church. He never did so we stopped teaching him because he was lying and not committed. So the other day we drove by his house and I had a feeling we should stop by just to see how he was. We invited him to church and as usual he said he would be there. I didn't think he would come because he always says yes and then calls and says he is in the hospital...I still hoped he would come. He actually showed up! It seriously was a miracle. Also really shocking haha. Pretty much all of the elders told me to give up hope in him changing and it really made me super angry. I don't know why a lot of the Elders are just so bitter about life haha.

The mission is hard but I really don't think we should just completely give up on people because they can't keep commitments. Heavenly Father is seriously always there for us and doesn't give up that easy. So why should we as his tools give up easy? I understand we need to spend our time fulfilling our purpose to teach and baptize but these people need love and patience. 

We had 5 people at church this last Sunday! It was awesome! K. who has been investigating the church on and off for 20 years is getting baptized this Sunday. She told us we were the best missionaries ever. It seriously made me so happy! She has met like a lot of missionaries’ haha. 

Lone Eagle wants to get baptized but not sure if completely understands the difference of being baptized in our church compared to other churches. He finally came to church this Sunday! He didn't make it to church at 9 so he came to church at 1. So we went to sacrament meetings yesterday. It was a little exhausting but worth it. He seemed to like it and said he learned from it. Hopefully he understands the priesthood authority soon. That was his first time at church though so we will see. I love that guy! One of the Elders told us we should stop teaching him too. So frustrating. 

Johnny came to church again this week and he bore his testimony in sacrament meeting! He wouldn't go up until I did haha. His testimony was killer though! Everyone shook his hand afterward.

We had this kid walk into our church just because he wanted to go to church! It was super neat! I think the Elders are going to teach him. Also this entire family walked in that wanted to go to church! That never happens! The miracles of fasting are so amazing! We just had so many miracles happen yesterday like our five people at church. 

Hopefully good things keep happening! 

I love and miss you all! 

Sister Brooks

Johnny my BFF

She is a member and we are teaching her non-member boyfriend  who gives us free frosty at Wendy's. He is the nicest boy!

Me and my Grandma Dola :) I love her so much!

   

 My family away from home haha. Seriously Brother M. is my spirit animal I love that guy!  His wife is the one getting baptized and he has just been reactivated but he is going to baptize her! I'm so excited! 

It was so neat to see Chloe be baptized!

Hello!

So Sister Warner is getting transferred this Wednesday so that will be some new stuff haha. Hopefully our investigators will still like us. But this weekend was really awesome! :) It's crazy Chloe is now a member. Her grandparents are really excited! So are we! I really want to come back and visit them with you guys! But for now it's nice that I'll still see them all the time. I love the Kaptains! I miss you guys too! But it is all worth it. I love being a missionary. This weekend was just great to see two people enter the waters of baptism who are so ready for that change in their lives. 

We had five investigators at church on Sunday so that was pretty wild! Johnny came! It was funny because we were talking to him on his porch about how the extremely well planned barbecue had been canceled because of the really bad storms. He was super excited to go! He was like I want to meet all the people. So then I was like oh well there is church tomorrow so just come and meet them all then. He told us he was like I think I'll ease my way into it. Sister Warner was like well we don't want to make you uncomfortable then he said I like when people are honest and speak their minds. So then I was like straight up you need to come to church then. haha. So that is how we got Johnny there :) He loved it! He was commenting in all the classes and telling everyone his testimony of his experience in prison and his accident. I told him we have testimony meeting every first Sunday of the month and he is really excited to get up there. He was like I'll be there! haha. So I'm glad he liked it!

It was so neat to see Chloe be baptized! We stood on the steps to watch and it was so amazing to see the smile on her face and this light that came as she was baptized. I've never felt anything like that before. She has changed so much since we first met her. Even confidence wise she has so much more confidence. When we first met her and she was talking my ear off her grandparents were like in shock she talked that much. Now she is like that with everyone. And she even tells the Elders how much better the sisters are like every time she sees them. She is just such an amazing girl who wants something so different for her life than what her parents had. She is such a sweetheart. I told her she is always welcome in our home or in my future home.

So it's about to get real up in here! We most likely have another baptism set up for the 10th of august but I don't want to give the story until it's legit. But this area is really blowing up!

We have dinner appointments set up with non members! Which is super sick!
You should see the amount of food we have…that means we are good missionaries. ;) haha. 

Well I love you guys. Stay classy!

Sister Brooks

We went to one of Sister Warner's past investigators baptism and my mommy was there :D

I got some earrings from Lone Eagle

​ The Kaptain's 

 We went to a place like Benihanas for lunch it was wild! 

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Mormons do party!

Hello!

My week is going pretty well! Missing you guys a little and I'm kind of jealous you guys are in California without me! But I'll catch ya next time. We are having this like extremely well planned barbecue this weekend in our ward. So that should be pretty wild! They like have this big fireworks show and everything. The guy in charge showed us his like map of the BBQ I've honestly never seen such intense planning haha. We are trying to invite everyone so they can see Mormons do party!

So we do service at this club for people over the age of 65. We work in the food pantry there. We usually go on Tuesday's but this week we decided to go on Thursday and we were waiting for the truck to get there so we could unload the food. This old man came over and asked us who we were and we told him and he was like oh do Mormon's dance. We were like Heck yes we do! So we ended up folk dancing with old people. It was seriously the best thing ever. They were so pumped to have us dance with them! So I think that should be our new service project. 

The other day we were teaching Chloe about the Ten Commandments and somehow the 7 deadly sins came up. Her grandma was trying to remember what they all were and she said greed and obesity. I was like dying of laughter haha! Obesity is pretty accurate. 

This week we taught this Baptist guy who basically let us come over because he wanted to make sure that we were saved. We were like super hesitant when he came over to us and asked us where we thought we go after this life. So he thought we didn't know. We were just thinking he was going to tell us we were going to hell like most other people do haha. But he believes we are saved so that is dope. He is pretty crazy but I think he is honestly trying to be a missionary. 

There is an old man sitting next to me in the library and he keeps yelling at his computer that he just doesn't get it. haha. I'm too afraid to help him. 

So yeah this weekend should be pretty great! I can't believe I would have been on my mission for like 9 months now if I didn't go home. Instead it has been 6 months for me. Pretty wild stuff!

I love you guys! Have fun!

Sister Brooks

I'm braiding her hair for her baptism

  

I curled Chloe's hair at their young women's activity. I actually curled like 6 girls hair haha. It was so cute to see their confidence levels increase as soon as they saw their hair. :)

I won this dinosaur out of a claw machine! My companion brags that I can win these haha. I named him Jerome :)

We are preparing for Chloe's baptism!!!

Hello human beings! 

So we are preparing for Chloe's baptism!!! This is real life! She is getting baptized July 26th and we are all soooo excited! We took her to why I believe on Sunday. Someone asked us if we were related haha. Gosh I love Chloe! I told her my spirit animal is Beyonce and she stared at me for like 10 minutes and was like oh really? She just can't see the fierceness. 

Interviews went well :) just real short, simple and spiritual like usual haha. I'm senior companion now. He just wants me to be able to take the lead. So it seems like I'll be staying here. But you don't really ever know with president because he likes surprises sometimes. 

So we have met some pretty great people this past week! We are now teaching this guy named Johnny. He told us that he had been in prison for 10 years and that is the place where he first felt the spirit. He also has a pretty crazy survival story. He was in a head on collision with a semi truck and basically his whole body was broken and he was in a coma for a month. He said his mom always told him he should be a Mormon but it would be too difficult. So now he wants to know why. :) He has already been reading and praying. He is like super excited to find his answer. It's funny how nervous we were to talk to him because he is a giant guy haha. But we did it. Super glad we did! He is such a cool guy! 

Everything is going pretty well! I'm like hitting my 6th month mark soon haha. What the?! 

Well I love you guys! 

Sister Brooks

  

On our way to Why I Believe with Chloe and her Grandma. :)

We were working in the rain all day so that is why we look so crappy !

On exchanges :) 

People in Indiana don't understand that we Utahan's don't get the pleasure of seeing squirrels on the daily. 

​

 Waiting for the interviews. 

4th of July week craziness...

This past week has felt somewhat jack haha. Having a full day off on Friday was some weird stuff. Because not sure if you knew but p-day only lasts until 6 usually and we got until 10:30 on Friday.

Monday we didn't have a full p-day so we went out and worked, Tuesday I had a stomach bug so I slept like all day but we still got 3 member presents haha, Wednesday we had like 4 hour car stuff, then Thursday we did service like half the day and went to dinner at bdubs with two 20 year old boys... Probably the most jack day ever! But we got a super solid investigator out of it. Then Friday we had the entire day off and we went to the mall with the elder’s haha.

So story behind going to dinner with two 20 year old boys... We had a lesson with one of them in a members home and then afterwards we were going to go home and eat but then we were just like hey let’s just go grab some food. So he had to pick up his friend and we went to dinner. We taught the restoration and then our conversations got split off in to two which made it feel super like a date and really awkward. The kid told me like his entire life story and yeah now we are teaching him. We took him on a church tour and he came to church yesterday! He is super solid! He hooked me up with a bunch of Christian rock music :) I really want to serve on campus one of these days it's so much easier teaching people your own age! He is a super nice kid reminds me a lot of Hayden they are like twins haha.

4th of July was pretty good! It was just super weird not doing missionary work all day. We took a nap, ate McDonald's, played some ball, gamed it up, ate some more and then played some more ball. Then Sister Warner needed a blessing because she wasn't feeling super great so the elders all came to our apartment which was also weird. I felt like I was back home hanging with some of my buddies.

So not sure if I told you but our mission is doing church tours and they are pretty awesome! We basically take a member and their non member friend/ friends around the church and teach them the restoration lesson through showing them paintings. It is super great :) The spirit can really be felt throughout the tour. 

I honestly like didn't even care about fireworks this year haha I think I saw like two. I feel like there aren't really rules here with them though like people are setting them off all night and all the time. So it's kind of hard to sleep sometimes. I'm pretty sure ever since the 4th happened you like can't go outside and not hear fireworks. It sounds like gun shots all day every day. 

The monopoly game is sweet thanks so much Jojo! :) I gave the elders all tie pins since they were missionary ones haha. They were all happy because they already all have matching ties. Thanks so much for all of the stuff you sent! 

Well I love you guys! 

Sister Brooks 

I got to wear one of Lone Eagles chokers haha. That is the day I was sick so that is why I look the way I do haha. 

We had purple day for district meeting haha. They all have matching ties because they are women. 

Austin

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He answered the door and said "come to the dark side we have cookies" Nerdiest and best experience of my life haha. The light saber I'm holding he got for his graduation present.

This is Bessie Brown and she is a member of our ward. I love her! She has us over at the nursing home to eat cafeteria breakfast with her haha. She just speaks her mind and it's hilarious. She is like 87!

Elder Twitchell and Steab. They are my favorite Elders! Elder Steab is like a puppy haha.