Yes, dear friends and family, the wintery rains of Washington have officially come. They have taken away the ice and frost, but now everything is permanently damp. Its awesome :) 

We had a pretty great week in the Crossroads Branch! We have been working a lot on being CONVERTED missionaries, not just missionaries with a testimony. A testimony is what someone KNOWS. I personally have a knowledge that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true, and that Jesus Christ lives. A conversion is how someone is CHANGED by that knowledge. There are many who simply have very large testimonies, they have come to know and understand a lot about the gospel. There are also many of us who need to improve and grow in our ability to apply that knowledge and change because of it. I also know that you can be converted without knowing everything. The AMOUNT of what we know does not matter nearly as much as what we do with it. So if you feel your testimony has a few more holes in it than someone else's, I would invite you to focus on how you change your life according to what you DO know. I have been taught a lot this week about how God will fill those holes, and strengthen the weak spots when we seek to be converted and true to what we already know to be true. 

My experience with that principle this week started because of a zone training that we had, where we were counseled to invite EVERYONE we see and talk to to be baptized. Now, as missionaries, we already strive to talk with everyone. We are not called to be judges of who we think is ready for the gospel. We are called to FIND those who God has already prepared. Which could be anyone. So we talk to everyone :) But throughout my mission, I have been on and off about inviting everyone to baptism as soon as I meet them. We were challenged to do so, and were promised that the Lord will put those prepared people in our path. I have a testimony that the Lord will always provide a way, and He will help us be successful missionaries when we have faith in  Him. As we went out and made that extra effort to invite everyone to be baptized, we were able to find several new investigators AND a family from Honduras who wants to learn and prepare to be baptized!! It was so crazy!!! 

Also, I received a special assignment from our mission president this week..... Another sister (Sister Clayson) and I will be teaching a high school class of Jewish students about the history and doctrine of our church on Tuesday!!! What?! Yah, so our mission president got an email last week from the Jewish Synagogue asking for us to prepare a presentation for this class, since they are studying different denominations and religions. So we will have 45 minutes to present the message of the Restoration and answer questions they have. It is going to be so great! We really have no idea what to expect, but as we were talking our mission president it was really cool to talk about how unique our message is. In the title page of the Book of Mormon, it says that one of its main purposes is "to the convincing of Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ." It was written for them!! So anyways, please pray for us that our presentation will go well, since we have like no time to plan and prepare together. I am so excited!! :) 

Also, I just really really love Christmas time. It is the best!! I love you all so much and I hope that you are able to feel the Christmas Spirit. For all of you in school, good luck in finals and such! And let us not forget that we come together with friends and family at this time to celebrate God's greatest gift, His Beloved Son. Let us strengthen our conversions and rejoice. Les Quiero!!! 

-La Hermana Brooks