I love you all so much! And I wish I was better at being able to
tell you all of the amazing experiences and adventures that I have every
week. This week was soo full of them! But alas, I do not have the time
nor the ability to fit it all in. So I will just share a few of my
favorites :)
First of all, I LOVE Hermana Hargis. She makes me delicious food,
makes me laugh, and really just knows how to be a great missionary. I
really don't feel like I am training her AT ALL. I mean, yes, she is a
little older and has a lot more life experience that pretty much all of
us missionaries here. But she really is just super awesome, and she
brings miracles with her. Literally we have been able to find more less
actives in the past 2 weeks than pretty much every other time I have
been here! And she just really loves all of these people so much. It is
always really stressful bringing someone new into your personal
experiences and world because you just don't know if they will love
everyone like you do. But I have no worries with Hermana Hargis :) I
love it!!
Also, I finally got to play soccer with the branch again!!! (last
Saturday is rained a lot, so the activity was cancelled). And guess
what?! After 3 months of not playing, I actually wasn't too bad!!
Seriously, one of my biggest regrets from my pre-mission life was not
learning how to play soccer. Who knew that it was a necessary skill to
be a missionary :) AND! What is super awesome is that the branch loves
to invite their friends to these activities, so we are always getting
introduced to new people to teach! The challenge is actually getting
them to become new investigators, but either way, it is awesome how much
our members want their friends to be involved.
Okay, and here is for my favorite part of the entire week.
Yesterday, we had our monthly Member-Missionary Fireside, and a very
wonderful person got to share his testimony with the congregation! That
is right everyone, John Keihnle from the Duvall ward. Oh my goodness,
when he walked in I about jumped out of my seat and ran to him! AND HE
GREW A BEARD!! but oh my goodness, his testimony was so powerful. I wish
I could have recorded it!! It was so amazing, because he bore his
testimony about the Book of Mormon. He told everyone about how when he
first met us, he told us that he didn't need the church because God
already talked to him all of the time. When we asked him what God told
him, he told us that we would think he was crazy (its true, we really
did). He told us that God had told him to get a bow and arrow and leave
to the wilderness.... Now for any of you not familiar with the Book of
Mormon, there are some great stories of men who receive similar counsel
from God (see I Nephi 16) and so obviously he had to read it! He was
having a hard time finding time to read, and so when we found the app
that he could listen to it, that is when everything changed. My favorite
part about hearing him tell the story of our teaching, was when he said
in his very soft voice, "I pushed play that night and I dont think I
hit the stop button until I hit the book of Alma" (Alma is halfway
through the Book). The whole room just kind of sat in awe at him. All of
the missionaries let out an awe-filled "ooohhhh" Literally John
listened to the whole Book of Mormon in like 3 days. And then 3 weeks
later he was baptized. And he was so filled with light and love last
night that I am still on cloud 9. There is something so special about
sharing the gospel with someone. It binds people together, and makes us
more than just friends, but family. There are many dear people in my
life who I consider family, my best friends, teachers, and role models,
and so many incredible people from my most amazing mission. I love being
a missionary so much. God loves us so much, and it is only up to us to
go and find the amazing miracles, peole like John Keihnle who are our
neighbors, friends, co-workers, and strangers that need what we have.
They need the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I love you all so much, and I hope you have an amazing week. I pray
that you will not be afraid to reach out, love one another, and share
what makes you happy.
Les Quiero Mucho!!
-la Hermana brooks
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