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