MORE MTC

 YES, MORE MTC is right...or as my dad puts it...more "Moving Toward Curitiba!" Just to give you a heads up, my whole district got reassigned and is out in the field, EXCEPT ME! Here's the story....

Can I hear great hair day, PLEEASE?:)

First off, Brit. Katie Knight? My gosh, you might as well quit running now and travel the world signing autographs because you're so cool. Ben! 15 minutes before your race and no warm-up?! Some people just don't need warm-ups, they're that good. Mom and dad, oh thank you. Your letters have carried me through the last few days. MOM, feed everyone everything. That's my only request for my birthday. It's fast Sunday here and they don't let us eat til 6, andddd I'll be alone on my birthday:) Party for days.

So, here is my parable of The Daddy-Daughter Date:

Once upon a time, there was a girl who was away from home at college for a long time. Her dad was her very best friend and she missed him very much. One day, he called her up and said: "Hey darling! When you get home, on exactly April 29th, let's go to Olive Garden! I want you to do everything you can to prepare and get excited, because I can hardly wait."

So, she gets ready. For months and months she's looking forward to April 29th at 7:00, when she FINALLY gets to do what she has wanted to for such a long time. She thinks about it everyday, and it carries her through hard things.

April 29th comes. All day, (the MTC,) she is getting ready for 7:00! She gets everything done she needs to throughout the day. Seven o'clock arrives and she can hardly sit still. Five minutes before they're supposed to leave, her dad says: "You know hon, I'm so sorry but tonight just isn't going to work."

He doesn't give an explanation, and her heart just sinks. She's been waiting, and working, and waiting, and working, and she wants to go to Olive Garden with her dad SO BAD. She thinks maybe she's being punished for something wrong that she did throughout the day. But then, it dawns on her that Olive Garden wasn't really the point. Without this opportunity to wait a little longer, she wouldn't have been able to show Him that on April 29th at 7:00, she would do whatever it was that night He needed her too. The point was spending time with her Father. The point was never the destination.

So, that has been my week. My entire zone got re-assigned, I've been up at 4 in the morning to send them all off the last few days, and I'm still at the MTC. It was really hard at first, and I racked my brain for days on why I was being left out. But I don't think I'm being left out; I think I just needed to understand a little more that my goal isn't a certain time or a certain place, but that my goal is to show Heavenly Father that this is His time, and the most important thing to me is to do what He wants me to.  So I've been sleeping on a mattress with no blankets or sheets, I don't quite have a companion yet, and I'm living entirely out of a suitcase that I had 15 minutes or so to pack:) I'm loving it though; just kinda taking it a moment at a time. Hmm. I wonder where I will be or who will need to talk to me about some other problem in the next 20 minutes. Hmm. I wonder where I will sleep tonight! It's like I'm on Survivor. Or HUNGER GAMES, and I'm freaking Catnus because I'm the LAST ONE STANDING!!! I'm just learning that whenever something is hard, the Lord wants you to use it to learn more about His Son. I have been so blessed these last few days because I've learned more about the Atonement. It's been a wee bit lonely, but I love that when we feel alone or scared or left behind or heartbroken in new ways, we get a chance to get a tiny little glimpse of the Savior. It is so very nice to have someone who understands:) Also, I once again have no idea where I'll be in a week. Maybe they'll end up sending me to Antarctica or Sweden. I wouldn't put it past em.

My WONDERFUL district and dear friends!!!

On Sunday, I played the piano at devotional for this random elder who needed an accompanist, and he did a fineeee job! Right after I sit down, Sister Nally, (the MTC president's wife,) says: "I've never done this before, but I'd like to ask Sister Brooks to come right back on up here."

First thought: I should have combed my hair sometime in the last month.

Second thought: Yes. I put on make-up today.

Third thought: Wait, what?

So I waddle my little self right on up there and she asks me to bear my testimony and then talk about the Boston Marathon. I get done speaking and she looks at me, and in front of all these missionaries, says: "Sister Brooks. You are in the right place." It wasn't that big of a deal, but it was definitely a tender mercy:)

Yesterday I was studying with these elders and one of them starts talking about how weird one of his friends is because she always MEOWS. Did I tell him I sing hymns via meowing every night to whoever is lucky enough to be around me? Why, no, I certainly did not! People these days.

I love Portuguese grammer. Haha I'm such a nerd. Portuguese just makes sense in ways that English doesn't, and I love it!! I eat it up, and ask all these strange questions about the direct object pronoun, and I think my class hates me. Which really doesn't matter because they are now scattered around the US:) So I'm over it.

Thank you for your prayers. Missions are so wonderful:) And I'm so grateful for support, especially on weeks like this one!

Have the best week of your whole life. I have another P-day on Friday because I'm actually moving tomorrow at 3 AM to a new district. Rollin with the punches. BRING IT ON.

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!

Sister Brooks

AWKWARD FAMILY PHOTOS

                 

    

Life is Good!

Hello Everyone!!!

I had a lovely week here at the MTC! On Wednesday, I hosted new missionaries, meaning I would get them out of the car, carry their luggage around, and get them all settled. NEVER LET ME DO THAT AGAIN. We were supposed to be super duper excited and thrilled, and I totally was!

HAPPY HOSTS!!!

But when those cars would pull up and the mom would lose it and the little brother would be crying and the new Sister would hug her dad, I would just stand there and cry and pretend I was feeling the Spirit or something. It was pretty inspiring to see all these really brave people get dropped off, so sad to leave their families but so very sure of what they were doing. Little 18-year-old boys who just graduated and are going to the middle of Antartica speaking who in the world knows what. I was just so touched and I cried every time a momma said good-bye to her little boy or girl. Someone fire me from this duty.

On Wednesday night, Sister H. and I taught random investigators in front of all the new missionaries, speaking the strange language of ENGLISH. I was actually pretty nervous, because all these new missionaries were staring at us with their beady little eyes and soaking in everything we were saying. And I'm just like: "I'M A MISSIONARY TOO AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING!!!!" But I felt the Spirit as I was teaching, and loved the heck out of this Italian fellow we taught about families:)

Elder Richard G. Scott came and talked to us last Tuesday:) He just loved on us for 45 minutes straight. He thanked the Sister Missionaries specifically, and promised us our lives would forever be enriched by this decision. He invoked a blessing of the gift of tongues on us all, that we could master the language we were learning. And that basically just made me feel really happy.

I am the most popular girl at the MTC. FOUR BAGS OF DOVE CHOCOLATE?! Wassup!!!! Everyone flock to me!! Everyday after gym time, about 10 Sisters gather in the hall and I just shower them with treats galore! I have been super healthy lately, and wasn't going to have treats for a month, but decided to break my little health kick and eat a chocolate. I open it up and read it, and what does the inside say? "Keep your promises to yourself." Really? I was mad so I ate some more until I got one that said: "Treat yourself."

I have learned a lot from the scriptures this week, and I'm loving the chance to be taught powerfully by the Spirit. I've started a little journal of common questions people may ask me in the next year and a half, and as I read I write down scriptures that would answer those questions. I really want to master the scriptures; be familiar enough with them to point anyone to any scripture for concerns in their lives. This week, I began to pray before each scripture study that I could be led to the things that either me or my investigators needed. And it was amazing, every day! The Lord would open my eyes to new scriptures and teach me new concepts, and I just ate it up:) The scriptures are so wonderful; we're so blessed to have that direct connection with the Lord!

So. People keep asking me about how I REALLY feel about being re-assigned. It is just so strange, but I feel so excited that I wake-up everyday doing a little jig. It seems surreal that I'm actually leaving this place, because it's all I've known for the last 5 weeks. This last Sunday on my district's little walk up to temple, I saw some random Japanese lady who WASN'T a missionary and got so excited that I ran over and sat next to her and talked with her forever. I listened to her story and about her family and her job and her troubles, and I loved every second of it. I don't care at all where I go, quite honestly. I don't care what language I speak or if I serve in Provo or Brazil or anywhere in between. We all have a common need for the Savior. I need to have faith that the Lord will help me learn Portuguese when I need it, because I feel a little scared of losing everything I learned and getting down there and having no earthly idea what anyone is saying. But. The Lord has been in charge thus far, and I don't really see a reason for Him changing His mind and not directing my mission:) I'm really, really excited to love people. I'm really excited to just love everyone. I'm feeling a little curious to know where in the world I will be in a week:) PATIENCEEEEEEE KAYLEEEEEEEEEEEE:)

Running is therapy. Me and Sister N. call it our 50 minutes of pure therapy, because we just talk and talk the whole time. We always talk about what our "perfect day" would be, and we tell each other stories from growing up and from 

college and anything else we need to talk about. I run with Sister L. in the morning, and sometimes she'll do sprints with me which is fun:) She's a good athlete, and actually played for the BYU Ultimate Frisbee team. I have so much fun with my friends, and I'm a little concerned with what will happen if I love all the Sisters I serve with over the next 18 months this much, because I already have rooming plans worked out with a bunch of them:) Fine. I'll buy a house and everyone I ever met can live there.

The Lord continues to bless me more than I deserve. I'm feeling nervous about being a missionary, because now it's for reals. This week, it dawned on me what I was about to be doing, and the resposibility it was, and I just kneeled down and prayed: "Are you sure? I mean, are you really, really, really sure? I'm just a baby. You sure I can do this?" Haha He told me: "No Sister Brooks, you can't, but I can, so stop freaking out." So then I stopped freaking out and just realized I need a wee bit more faith, so I've been working on it:)

Life is good. I have a testimony of Jesus Christ, and I love Him so very much. People do amazing things to show their love for Him. How cool to be a small little part of it:) I love you all, keep on keeping on!!!!

Yours,

Sister Brooks

Happy Days!

Family!!!! I was just so happy to hear from each of you this week, and catch glimpses of your lives and the amazing things that are happening. Dad, I can't believe you're actually here!!!! THE PACKAGE I GOT WAS THE BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh I love my family. Thank you SO much for everything! :):):) Mom, I just love you. I'm so grateful that you have been recognizing the Lord's hand in everything. Tay, Brit, Ben. I love you all so very much:):) Keep up the hard work in track and Tay, stop being so good at history. Professors want you left and right.Keep writing me letters everyone. I love the food you send, and I love to hear the updates in your life.

So, this week was simply marvelous. I have gained SUCH a testimony of the MTC, and I have fallen in love with it all:) Truly, I'll always think of the MTC as a sacred place, because of the ways it has already changed my life. I just love everyone and I just want to hug everyone!!!! I had the chance this week to teach a lesson of the Restoration in Portuguese, and it was the first time that I had recited the First Vision in Portuguese from memory in a lesson. I was looking at the investigator, telling him the story of Joseph Smith, and I was just hit with the wonder of it all. The Spirit entered the room so powerfully. It was silent for a while after I finished, and all I really knew how to say was "I know that this happened. I KNOW that this happened." Sister H. and I left the room and I just looked at her and said: Wow. It really is true.

And by gollee it is!!! I've always had a testimony of the gospel, I've always known that it's true. But when you teach, and when you don't know what you're saying and the Spirit somehow enters the room, it is truly the most powerful feeling ever experienced. I can hardly contain my excitement for getting out there and teaching in whatever language I need to!! GIVE ME PEOPLE TO LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) I just love them already. I just want them to be happy more than anything. Like. How did this happen? :)

So, you're all probably wondering where I'm off to in 13 days to serve a mission. Hey,

Eventually I will get there!

I'm wondering the exact same thing!!!! I'll get a re-assignment next Wednesday or Thursday most likely and I'll have 5 minutes to call home so don't you dare not pick up! Mom, I'll probably call your cell? Just let me know!:) I am really excited to be re-assigned! I could go anywhere in the United States speaking any language. Most the time it's English, but sometimes it's Spanish or French. I'm really grateful for the opportunity to serve somewhere else, because the Lord's hand is going to be that much more evident in my language learning. Because heaven knows I'll need help if I don't get to Brazil for a few more months! I'm confident that the Lord will help me say what I need to say:)

So this week I decided to play four-square, which was maybe the best decision I've made thus far on my mission. My friends were all playing and I was tired of running and so I jogged over and got in line. I was just being all cute and dumb like "LALALA, no one get me out, I've never played, etc...etc..." I got in and the first time I touch the ball, I absolutely slammed it in this Elder's square and owned him. Back of the line my friend. Everyone in line erupted in "OHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" and I just walked my little self to the next square. I proceeded to make enemies very quickly, hence the reason I have only been back once. Everyone was talking about it all day. I'm famous.

I get to be a host tomorrow!!!! That means that I get to be nice to the new missionaries and carry their stuff and tell them "just make it to Sunday Sister friend!!" Sister H. and I were also chosen to be the teachers of an activity that all the new missionaries get to go to. So I'll for sure see Whit! And I get to be at training all day, so I'm really excited. 

Also, I met this fellow who has the most beautiful voice in the nation, and I told him that I would play the piano for him anytime. Two days later we tried out for a devotional and it was just so lovely!! We made it, and will be performing pretty soon. The MTC president's wife asked me if I would be an MTC pianist, which of course I was thrilled about. Happy days:):)

I run. I run a lot. I run way too much, still. Sister L. runs with me every morning at 5:45, and Sister N. runs with me everyday for 50 minutes in the afternoon. Haha I figure the rest of my companions will most likely hate running, so I'm making the most of it. We have good chats, and I just love my friends!

Prayer is becoming a conversation. He always listens to me for a while, and I've been trying so hard to figure out how I receive personal revelation, which is mostly through feelings and thoughts. I love that when I pray about something, it's me talking to my Father and my Friend, and He wants to talk back to me. This week I have felt so grateful to wear the Savior's name over my heart, and I've been praying for the Lord to help me see my weaknesses so I can work on them to be more worthy for His Spirit. He is very good at letting me know them:) And I'm just realizing that weaknesses are a funny thing, because they are not worth being sad about for one second! It's so selfish to pity your weaknesses. I'm finding that when we seek correction, the Lord helps you see your faults, but that if you immediately get on your knees and say: "My gosh, I am so sorry. Have I really been doing this my WHOLE LIFE?! What direction would you like me to go?" that without fail I feel an increasing of love in my general direction:) He doesn't want me to be impatient with myself. What a concept! He wants me to ask Him how I can be better, and I'm quite confident that He will help me whenever I'm ready for it. I've seen Him help my heart and change it and make it better, but it's usually after I make a mistake and a recognize a new side of my pride and selfishness that I didn't realize I even had.

Probably the biggest thing I've learned over the last four weeks is that my weaknesses are gifts, because it's a chance to learn personally of the Atonement. Like. How cool is that? I love the Savior. Through my own little human non-missionary self, I've seen Him work and change me. I've never wanted to be corrected this bad in my life!!

I get frustrated with Portuguese. I try so hard not to! But the more I learn, the more I realize I have no idea what's going on! I can understand Portuguese pretty well and read it and understand everything. Speaking it, I sound like a 2 year old. It will come if I work:)

About the Boston Marathon. It was announced yesterday at our table at dinner and everyone immediately looked at me. The day before someone had asked me about it, telling me they wanted to share the story in a General Women's Conference at BYU, and I had just melted into tears because I so badly, so badly wanted to run it. When I heard about the bombings, I just got really quiet and Sister H. (since we're best friends,) grabbed my arm and let me cry for a long time in the bathroom. I just...goodness, I just don't know why the Lord is so kind to me. I was so upset that people were hurt; I was devestated that other people had to see such terrible things. And I was humbled for all the tiny miracles that led me here at this time. I think the Lord wanted me to serve a mission, and it isn't often He lets you see the reason for a sacrifice you made. I just cried because I didn't feel worthy of being treated with such care, and I was amazed at His plan and His awareness of me.

I just LOVE YOU ALL!!!! Your letters and support mean everything, especially on days when I'm like: "All my friends are getting married. Why am I here again?" Your love means so much!!! Thank you!! I do love the Savior:) I do love this work. I love these people. I'll talk to you NEXT WEEK!!! WASSUP!!!

Love you love you,

Sister Brooks:)

Abby snuck me in a diet coke:)

All of Me!!!

My dear dear DEAR DEAR DEAR FAMILY!!!!

This week I decided I did not have enough humor in my life. The cafeteria in the MTC is like a middle school cafeteria, where everyone clears their trays and leaves the food on they don't eat. So I wait until there are a lot of people around and take a huge bite off of a random piece of half-eaten cake on someone else's plate and just look around absolutely innocently as other people are like......whattttt the........I may come home looking like a blog, and I expect anyone who claims to be my friend to make me eat carrots and celery for a year.

Anyways, this week was, my goodness, what was it?! It was wonderful. I just have such a testimony that the Lord sustains His missionaries. Some nights I'll get up after 3 hours of sleep because I can't sleep here and get to work, and somehow I'm not tired all day. I wake up ready and it doesn't generally feel hard. The Lord makes the impossible possible. For sure for sure.

I told one of my good friends here that my dad used to always grab my hand and squeeze it 3 times for "I LOVE YOU." So now, when she can tell I'm getting a little sad, she'll grab my hand and squeeze it. Then we swap stories and eat cake off of plates and feel better. Really, this girl and I are best friends. She has 14 kids in her family, all of who served missions and went to grad school and are raising families. WHAT?! She tells us stories about growing up, and her mom is a freaking saint. I've found that whenever I'm sad, if I lose myself in a conversation with someone, it's hard not to feel better.

This week, me and Sister H. taught a lesson to this man who wanted to improve his relationship with his wife. I told him in very broken Portuguese to clean the bathroom for her once a week. Duh, what else? I didn't know men didn't know these things about marriages. We also taught a lesson this week to our teacher who was a mock investigator. He had planned out a really hard lesson, where he was going to question things he knew we couldn't talk about. Cool, huh? Well we got into the lesson, and the Spirit was there so strong. He was very quiet, and just kept agreeing with everything we were saying. He later told us that he melted....that every wall he had put up was gone because he felt how much we meant what we were saying. Experiences like that are so rewarding. I can't speak your language, I really miss my mom, I'm wearing a freaking skirt every day of my life, but I know that Jesus Christ is your Savior, and I know that He loves you. Telling people that just...mm...it just feels so right.

One of my teachers called me in this week just to chat. She sat across from me, was quiet for a while, and said: "Sister Brooks, I just needed to let you know today how much Heavenly Father loves you." She started crying and I just felt this love enter the room. It was only for a second, but it made my whole week. Heavenly Father just let me know how much He loved me, how He was going to help me, and how He approved of what I was doing. Rarely have I felt the Lord's approval that strong, and it was the most motivating feeling. 

I then left the room and became fluent in 6 languages.

It's wild how quickly you love people here. I just love my companion. I love my district, and my friends, and my teachers, and the random girl this week who couldn't stop crying because she hated this place so much. You just LOVE everyone. To show my love, I decided with the girls in my zone to have a little picnic. On Saturday night, we all blew all our money on snacks and sat on the ground eating and swapped stories of middle school days. They now all think I am strange, but we definitely had good bonding times.

Our Saturday Night Picnic

Last night, the Elders in my district talked for about an hour straight about how to re-write the Toy Story script to make the story more intense.

What? 

The church is true. They come back mature. 

I finished my Book of Mormon in the temple this morning:) What a cool experience. I'm starting over today and marking everything that has to do with the character of Christ. I want to know Him better.

By far, the coolest experience of my week happened on Saturday afternoon. I was so discouraged. I was tired and sad and just feeling the weight of my human weaknesses, and this mission task dealy seemed so big and daunting. I got up and went into the bathroom and kneeled down and prayed, more fervently than ever before. I told the Lord that I had faith in Him, that I knew He was listening, and that I was doing this for Him. I told Him I needed help, I needed a lot of it, and I told Him that I would do whatever it took to get so much faith that we could have the type of relationship I needed right now with Him. 

I've always trusted the Lord with most everything other than myself. I decided when I was praying that I shouldn't limit His power by accepting my weaknesses for what they are. He promises that if we have enough faith, He'll help us make our weaknesses strengths. I realized that the Atonement is powerful enough to change my heart. I prayed for a really long time, and I made the decision to love every day of my mission, because He wants me to be happy, and I want to as well:) His power isn't limited...He can help me and will help me everyday. I stopped praying and listened and listened and I just felt Him say to me: "You, Kaylee, you are in the right place." 

So now, I decided to give myself to Him, the weaknesses and all. It will take my whole life, I have no doubt:) But I trust Him, more and more everyday. And I am so grateful to be here, so grateful. Conference, reading the scriptures, studying, relationships, EVERYTHING about this experience is absolutely enriched by the Spirit. I've never wanted anything so much in my life than to be worthy to have the Spirit, and to have enough faith that the Lord will heal my heart.

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH ALL I WANT TO DO EVERYDAY IS PRAY FOR EVERYONE I KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for your letters:):) They make me laugh. And sometimes I cry. But I'm a Sister missionary, and apparently that's just what we do.

Yours!!!

Kaylee

Our Classroom!!!

Me and some of my New Besties!

Oh what a BEAUTIFUL morning?!?

OI!!!!

I thought last P-Day that it would be a good idea and a time-saving sort of thing to hand wash my laundry in the bathroom sink, like a pioneer of old. Getting down with my roots, you know? Well who knew it takes like 5 days for t-shirts to drip dry. My clothes were strung all around the room; it was hysterical. Needless to say, I'm actually in the laundry room with modern machines right now, writing this letter.

My favorite part of everyday is right when I walk out of my residency hall and it's 6:55 AM. The mountains are just glorious and the sun is coming up and everyday I say to Sister H: Oh, today is the best day of my life!!!!! I love the mornings. Literally, if I see no others miracles in my mission, I have become a morning person, which is proof enough to anyone who knows me that God lives and is involved in our lives.

I have 25 new best friends, although my favorite and best and grandest companion will ALWAYS be you Britty:) I do love my companion, as well as ALL the women I am surrounded by. Sometimes I just wake up in the morning with a lump in my throat because I am so very grateful to know these people!!! So many Sisters gave up really hard things to come here, and they are so strong. Modern day Stripling-Warrior Mothers:) AND I GET TO HANG OUT WITH THEM!!!!! Sister L. is just the dearest little thing; I run with her almost every day, and she is the biggest tom-boy I have ever met. SO down-to-earth and SO funny. She wrote me a note this morning about how she felt like I immediately replaced the best friends she left at home, which helped her so much at the MTC. I already have about 10 girls I'm living at BYU with when I get home.

I am the exercise coordinator of the nation. I get up at 5:45 with girls in our floor and do P90X plyometrics. It's good bonding time, but everyone else thinks I'm crazy.

Portuguese is such a BEAUTIFUL language, but it is SO hard to explain the things I want to explain! I had an impression this week that if I focus on testifying in Portuguese, I would get the language without too much trouble. So everyday, I wake up and work all day on learning a principle to teach and testify about. The people I'm teaching always end up asking me about the things I haven't studied.

"Uhhhh..........The Church is True----------Name of Jesus Christ AMEN."

I have been working really hard. When it's study time, it's study time. I feel so much better asking for the Lords help when I've been obedient, because I know He wants to help me.

I took the Sacrament on Easter with 3000 missionaries, and 100 Elders passing it. I sat there in my cutsie little choir in my cutsie little Easter outfit and was hit with the knowledge that Jesus Christ's Atonement was personal to me. It was the most amazing experience. Then, a member of the Presiding Bishopric came and chatted with us. He looked like Mr. Bean, so the whole experience was thrilling to me on a number of levels. We got to hear from Sheri Dew as well!!! WHAT A WOMAN!!! It was a good Easter, but it was really hard to be away from home!! I hope everyone enjoyed candy for me:):) My companion had a really hard night, so I climbed in bed with her, opened all the candy I had, and made her tell me stories and eat chocolate. PROBLEM SOLVED!

I DO love Dove chocolate, probabbblyyy more than anything. But I open the wrapper and it says: "Take a Vacation for a day." "Slow down for this moment." "Treat Yourself." "Take a Bubble Bath." It's slightly depressing for about 2 seconds, and then I start reading the Book of Mormon and WAA-LAAA!! Everything solved. I look at that book and feel peace. I'm almost done with it; I just can't get enough. My goodness, my gracious. The Lord is involved in this work. The Lord looks out for and sustains His missionaries:)

I wear my ugly old lady dresses on special occasions, and those are probably my favorite days.

I had a really cool experience earlier this week. One night, I had the strongest impression that I should study a specific topic, one that I already felt confident in. But I read and studied and prayed. The next morning, I was in personal study when I was hit with how much one of the girls in the district needed me. I grabbed her hand and dragged her outside and said: "Darling, what's going on?" Lo and behold, she was struggling with the topic I had been studying. I was completely prepared to tell her of Heavenly Father's love for her and read specific scriptures. That was probably the happiest moment of the week for me; just knowing that Heavenly Father had trusted me with something like that,even though it was small. It made me want so badly to always be trust-worthy. It's hard not to be impatient with myself; I want to be a great missionary NOW and I want to love my mission NOW. Some moments I love it, but more moments than that it's really hard. I STILL cry every night!!! I scheduled myself in crying everyday for an hour between 5 and 6:)

Regardless, I have a testimony of the MTC! I have learned so much! The days here are hard and long; 16 hours of studying. But little moments make it worth it:)

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!! Keep being happy and keep letting me know that things are going well. I honestly have the best friends and family in the NATION.

Love, love love love love love love,

Sister Brooks:):)