Hello dear friends and family. The skies are officially grey here in the Evergreen state! AND its Halloween this week! CRAZY!!! I hope everyone has fun trick-or-treating, dressing up, and having fun with those you love :)

I don't have tons of time today, but I just wanted to check in with everyone and say how grateful I am to have the family and friends that I have. I am so grateful for everyone who has supported me, given me counsel, made me laugh, and made me feel of God's love. In one way or another, that should include everyone. Being on a mission has really opened my eyes to how much God has blessed me throughout every phase of my life, and how much power we have to help those around us recognize that. 

We had a great week in the Crossroads Branch, and we had the awesome opportunity of going to the annual Hispanic Conference! It was a blast! :) so fun being together to celebrate this beautiful Hispanic culture! We had investigators and tons of less actives that were able to come, and it was just awesome! We also had many miracles in finding new investigators and finding some people who had gone missing from the branch's radar for a little bit. Heavenly Father never loses track of His sheep, and when we have the desire to help THEM find HIM again, He will bless us with so many miracles along the path. 

I love you all so much, and I hope you have a great week! I PROMISE to send pictures next week. Literally, my camera just died in the parking lot of the library. Hasta Luego!!

-la hermana Brooks 

This is John!

Hola mejores amigos y familia! Espero que todo este bien :) 

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

Sooo... last week was transfers, which is why I wasn't able to send out any emails. AND YOU WILL NEVER GUESS WHAT HAPPENED! I have no idea how exciting this for any of you at home, but needless to say, it was a little crazy for me up here in Washington :)

For the second time, I have been sent BACK to the Crossroads Spanish Branch!!!! Yes, that is right. I have served in Bellevue three times now, and I only come to love it more and more every time I come back :) also, I was released as Sister-Training Leader, but then called to be a trainer of a new missionary for the third time as well! It was a lot of change. But I am sooo grateful for all of the time I had as a STL, because it has given me so much experience that I could not have gained any other way. I know that God has been preparing me for this new assignment for a while, and as soon as I found out what was happening, I knew that it was inspired of my loving Heavenly Father. 

Let me tell you all about my new companion!! Her name is Hermana Hargis, and she is from Kansas City, Kansas. She is not your typical sister missionary. She actually was called to the Washington Seattle Mission back in 2009, when she was injured in the MTC and was sent home where she ended up having 4 major shoulder surgeries! She is now 29 years old, and was called to come back to the SAME mission as her original call!! She finally made it :) haha she is sooo incredible! She was a paramedic for something like 8 years, and she has so many amazing stories. Never a dull moment with her :) I am so terrible, because I don't have any pictures yet of us together, but I PROMISE to have some by next week :) 

A quick update on the branch: everything is different. The Chavez family are still amazing though!! They are in the heart of everything that goes on in the branch now and they are just INCREDIBLE!! A lot of people have moved out and some new faces have come in, and Hermana Hargis and I have a goal to visit/find every single person in our branch list this transfer :) wish us luck!! 

and OH MY GOODNESS the branch is competing in a volleyball tournament in the stake. and they come to the church to practice every week WITH  a coach and basically our friday night voleibol activities have definitely upped their game. haha it is so awesome! More updates to come :) 

Overall, I have been learning a lot about the Atonement lately and how it works in our every day lives. I know that the Lord qualifies who He calls, and that includes me. Often, I have been very discouraged because of the mistakes I have made, the lack of qualifications I have, and the increasing pile of things in my "must-do" list, but I have been reminded over and over again that the Lord really does take us exactly the way we are. I loved that message that rang true to me in General Conference 2 weeks ago. As President Uchtdorf put it, we do not have to be more of anything. We just need to tell the Lord that we are ready and willing and He will come to where we are and walk with us the rest of the way. I love knowing that that is true, and even when I doubt that it is, I am constantly surrounded by those friends and family who remind me :) 

I love being a missionary. I love that the Lord knows exactly what we need, when we need it. He really does loves us sooo much and takes every opportunity to show us that. I hope you all have an amazing week, and I hope that you all have the opportunity to ponderize something from the scriptures :) This week, my scripture is Doctrine and Covenant 123:17. Go find yours! :) 

con mucho amor,

la hermana brooks

Okay, so this week was so hard! But it was also full of miracles! Lets see how much I can get typed in the 15 minutes I have left....

SO! My companion and I had started the week off with a lot of really great goals that we felt would really help change the area and help us see the fruits of our labors. That is not what the Lord had in mind. Not at all.

We met some AMAZING people, one of them whose name was Angela. She is English-speaking, but we met her while tracting, and so to help out the other missionaries, we went back to teach her the first lesson to see if she was really interested in our message. SHE IS INCREDIBLE! And as we taught her the message of the Restoration, she really felt the Spirit and knew that this is something she wanted to pursue. It was soo awesome! But because we are Spanish missionaries, that was the last time we will teach her :( its okay, we love Spanish people too much anyways :) 

Then for the next 3 days literally we could not make anything happen. No one was home, no one wanted to progress, and all of the goals and plans we had made were just not working. We were getting pretty darn frustrated to say the least. We didn't know whether it was our fault, their fault, or what. BUT that is completely not the point. Life is not about finding out whose fault it is. We are all at fault for something. What we need to do is have faith that GOD HAS A PLAN. And that is exactly what He taught us. 

While tracting one night, we knocked into this woman who was on the phone. As soon as she saw us, she got the biggest smile on her face, like she knew who we were! We were super confused, and so we just waited outside as she finished her phone call. It turns out that this woman named Myra has met with missionaries in the past, and was just barely talking to her friend over the phone about how she needs to find a church and make that a bigger priority in her life!!!!! WHAT?! Seriously, miracles. We are so excited to teach this family :) 

AGH! NOT ENOUGH TIME!! 

okay, well I will fill you in with more miracles we had next week :) But to finish up, this week we had the amazing opportunity of having another MLC, Mission Leadership Council. I love these meetings sooo much. And what President Schofield shared has really hit me. He talked about the light in our eyes that we have as we follow the example of Jesus Christ. We all have this light within us, and every decision we make either dims or brightens it. But we have the amazing opportunity of testifying that we know God lives and that He loves us simply by gaining more and more light. I want to invite all of you to seek for light this week. Before you make a decision, no matter how small, think to yourself if it will add or take away from your ability to shine bright. We can do really simple things, such as reading our scriptures, saying a prayer, and  saying kind words that add more and more light to our eyes and smiles. I also invite all of you to watch General Conference this weekend, it is available on the TV, radio, and live stream online. It will definitely strengthen the light you have, no matter who you are, where you are from, or what church you go to.

I love you all so much and I know that as we are patient in our trials and always have FAITH, God will not let us down. Miracles surround us everyday. It is just up to us to notice them. 

Have a great week! Les quiero!

 - La Hermana Brooks 

Helllooo amados hermanos mios :) Ahhh I literally have NO TIME! Forgive me for how awful this email is going to be. por favor? 

We had a great week in Bothell Spanish! We were able to find several new investigators and really just have so much fun teaching the people of Bothell. And really, the only thing that changed was our commitment to living the gospel joyfully. 

This week we were really blessed to be able to  work closely with a lot of the ward members as well. Our Ward Mission Leader invited his non-member relatives to have dinner with us, which was great! Several families with less-active parents are teaming up with us to help get them back to church (haha that sounds sketchy, but I promise it is all out of love :) 

Also! We went on some exchanges with the Russian speaking sisters!! So they are literally amazing. They are the only Russian speaking missionaries in the Seattle, Everett, AND Federal Way mission, so they literally go everywhere. They are just so incredible! They really inspired Hermana Wrubell and I to work even harder and to really count our blessings for the chance to learn and teach in Spanish. Russian is so hard!

Also, we have this crazy new investigator named Juaquin who has the biggest mullet I have ever seen. He is super funny and thought that he was supposed to start reading the Book of Mormon in the index.... but we squared that away and will start teaching him later this week. So wish us luck!! :) 

The Member-Missionary Fireside was yesterday and was in the North Seattle Stake. It was so awesome being able to see old companions, ward members, and investigators! John got lost on his way there, and so he wasn't able to make it :( BUT! The next one is in his stake, so we will FOR SURE see him there. Also, GENERAL CONFERENCE STARTS THIS WEEK! I am soo excited for the Women's broadcast this saturday, and then the rest will be next weekend! Crazy!!! I just cannot believe how fast time flies by. Its also almost October. Someone make it stop. 

I just really want you all to know that i know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. I know without a doubt that God is our Loving Heavenly Father. There is nothing standing between us and feeling of His love constantly except ourselves. God knew that we would make mistakes, that we would fall down, and sometimes just be too weak. But He never made His love conditional to any of that. I know that the commandments are evidence that He loves us, because He really does know what we need to bring us the most everlasting happiness. If you don't believe me, I invite you to try it out :) I love being a missionary, and I love living the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Don't forget to pray. Read your scriptures. Choose the Right. It is that simple :) 

I hope you all have a great week! I promise to write better next time :) 

Les Quiero! Dasvedanya! ( I have no idea how to write Russian things)

-La Hermana Brooks

Happy Monday to Everyone!! Also! Happy Birthday to my little sister, Morgan this week! She is getting way too old. Also, Happy Birthday to Mexico, Mi patria! haha thank goodness I am serving in a Spanish ward for this glorious celebration :) 

Anyways! So this week was very interesting. Actually it was pretty hard. But it was also amazing. We started the week off really strong, feeling like we were doing what we knew how to do, and making progress in our area. THEN we had a big zone conference that focused all on Becoming Consecrated Missionaries. We talked about the what it really means to serve God with all of your heart, might, mind and strength, and how we as a mission can come closer to that. It was all based off of a talk from Elder Tad R. Callister, which is amazing! If you can find it, read it. It applies to so much more than just missionay work. Anyways, so we were all super inspired and I really felt so much love from my Heavenly Father. I felt that I was given the exact help that I needed to become the missionary I am supposed to be. So my companion and I set some goals, and really committed ourselves to being more consecrated missionaries, ready to get to work and see thousands of miracles.... and then Heavenly Father reminded us whose work it is. We saw hardly any success the rest of the week. No one came to church, our only serious investigator stopped progressing, and we could not find ANYONE at home. We had no idea what had happened! And so we were talking about it last night, and it really hit me the importance of enduring with humility. We got so caught up in how successful we would be with our new goals, that we had lost our focus. Everything we do as missionaries is to help point ourselves and others to Christ. Numbers don't do that, the praise of others doesn't do that, only pure honest hearts trying to become more like the Savior can do that. So anyways, it was a really good lesson to learn, and I am very grateful that we don't have to be perfect. We just have to allow Christ to help us through our weaknesses and imperfections to help us become BETTER. Life is all about progression :) 

ALSO!!! JOHN GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!! When I found out, I was practically crying tears of joy and sorrow at the same time. Joy because he was able to finally become clean and come closer to the Savior through baptism. Sorrow because I couldn't be there :( But! Some of the sisters that we are over were able to go, and so they said they got a program for me and that it all went beautifully :) hopefully I will get to see him at the missionary fireside next weekend!! 

Anyways, I am pretty much out of time, but I want you all to know that I know that Jesus Christ is real. He lives. He did what He said He did. He understands us so perfectly, and completely, and He loves us wholly. Life is not about micromanaging ourselves so that we don't ever mess up. It is about acknowledging that we are imperfect, that we do need help, and then going to the only person who can help us. He wants us to be happy, soooo happy. And He is willing to do anything for us to help us achieve that. We just need to have faith in Him and try our very best. I love yo all, and I hope you can remember the Savior in your thoughts as you may come across trials and hard things that we can't really explain. I know that He will help you.

Les Quiero!! 

-Hermana Brooks