Fattening week!

Emailing!

Happy (Late) Thanksgiving. I hope y'all had a wonderful day. It was so weird not being with y'all, but I didn't complain having two wonderful Thanksgiving meals. Mmmm, it was good but boy did I feel fat. Thank goodness for baggy sweaters.

Zack and Zaire and Zoe Benson family.  They are our favorite.  

This was our Thanksgiving part 2!

On Monday, we had sister's p-day and we all met at the Sister Training leaders house for a little "Spa Day".  Before Spa Day, Sister Tadd and I were hungry, whats new? and decided to grab some Wendy's before heading over there. As I was about to pay for our food, this sweet lady came up to us and told us she was paying for our lunch. She then invited us to sit with her. She explained that she was LDS, no wonder she bought our food. Haha it all made sense now. She explained how she was having a bad day and nothing was going right. She decided she needed to do something nice for someone to make herself feel better. Right then, she saw us walk in and ran up to the counter to pay for us. She was SOO sweet. Definitely made our day!

Our stake president made a challenge for our zone to get 60 member presents this week. Each companionship had to get one a day, pretty much. (Meaning we are suppose to take a member with us to each discussion) We took Monica, the one we are helping to quit smoking, with us almost every night because she doesn't smoke while she is with us. (Although she is a less active member, we felt it was good for her to be with us) See what we do there... ;) She is slowly cutting down and is on her last pack of Cigarettes today, so hopefully she doesn't buy anymore. She is so stubborn. But we took half of her packs she had in her house. :)

Tracting with Monica :)

We decided to tract a particular apartment complex because Jo (the blind lady in our ward) told us some people are mean and need Jesus, and she wasn't sure if anyone has tracted there before, so we decided to go check it out one day. We knocked on three doors and next thing you know some cranky, I mean, sweet,(wink, wink) man came up to us and started yelling at us telling us we had to leave because we were "soliciting". We explained to him who we were and what we were doing. He didn't care and told us to stop. So we did. We decided to go visit Jo and her boyfriend to see how they were doing. She asked us if we could walk her down to CVS and get her prescription with her. So we did that. It was only a mile away so we decided it would be good exercise. As we were walking down the street, a nice apartment manager came limping over (he had a knee brace on) and started YELLING at us saying we needed to leave now. We asked him why and said we were just helping Jo. Jo defended us and he limped away mad. Any way, the walk was crazy scary. We had to cross a huge busy street and guess what? THEY HAD NO CROSS WALKS. We literally sat in the median for 10 minutes with a blind woman. We made is safety though, thank goodness.

We have a new investigator named Jesse. He is interesting and keeps us on our toes. He is our member’s neighbor so they help us a lot with him, which is really nice. We set him on date this week and he seems excited to come and be baptized. He didn’t come to church yesterday because he "woke up late" - not a good excuse. ugh. But we are going to work with him really hard to get him baptized. His wife and kids just up and left him one day so he is really taking that hard. It’s sad, but the gospel will make him so happy!!

We have a member who has been in a care center for 6 years. He is 50 years old. I can’t remember what happened to him, but his girlfriend/fiance has stayed with him through it all, it is so cute. We went and visited him and his mom this week, we asked the lady at the center if we could volunteer at the center and she was so excited for us to do that, so each Tuesday we are just going to go visit and talk with people who don't ever get visitors and then paint the lady residence’s nail's, It reminds me of painting grandma’s fingernails and now I am so excited!!!

Scripture: Thessalonians 1:20 -it says that we need to give thanks to God always for those we are grateful for in our prayers. I have been doing that a lot lately and man, I have so many people I am thankful for. Thank ya’ll for always being so supportive and so amazing. I truly love ya’ll so much. Have a wonderful week :)


Love, Sister Brooks :)

 Thanksgiving Day!

 One of our less actives, Vicki, used to be a body builder, so she trains us twice a week. 

 I am so sore, ha ha ha. 

Our Bishop and his family invited us for dinner on Sunday.  This is the picture they sent to my mom  with the following message: "Found these stragglers in the neighborhood so we took them in and fed them.  They are doing an awesome job! Love, Bishop Rich" :)

BEST WEEK EVER!

Hello, Hello
Let me just start off and say how amazing this week was for many reasons, but mainly because  I got to see my Uncle Glen!!!!!! I can't even tell you how happy that made me. That was probably the fastest hour I had in my whole entire life. I am so grateful for Uncle Glen and the time he took to come see me and have lunch with me and Sister Tadd. We pretty much partied it up, be jealous. Also, weird to think, he is the only male I will hug in the next 18 months, besides Pres, so I feel extremely lucky :) 

 Uncle Glen with us at Chicken Fiesta 

 Me and Uncle Glen (rainy morning in Richmond)

Sister Tadd, Me, Uncle Glen

 Special note from Uncle Glen after our visit.

This week has been really good. Of course we have done a lot of tracting to get new investigators and to find more people to baptize. We currently have 3 people we have set on date, Kara our little miracle from like 2-3 weeks ago, we haven't met with her for awhile because who knows she is "busy." I literally hate that word more than anything.  Pamela, who the elders met with once but has canceled every appointment on us because she has to work, so dang frustrating.  And Chyna, she is good, we meet with her pretty regularly.  They are all set on date for December 12, but I am sure we will have to push back Pamelas and Kara. UGH!! But we have tracted a lot and have found A LOT of success. YAY!! That is very rare for me. But it has been so good. 

We have found 3 really good investigators this week so we will be meeting with them in the next coming week and hopefully
we will find many more miracles. God is great. He sends so many people and miracles our way. 

I went on exchanges Thursday night to Friday night. I have the same STL's (sister training leaders) that I had last two transfers, so I am lucky. I was with Hermana Tolman, who is from Desert Hills. I was in Henrico and was able to be a Hermana for a day. Don't even ask what they were talking about in lessons because I have ZERO idea. They were all in Spanish, but I could pick out some words. haha It was really fun though. 

Exchanges

Exchanges with Herman Tolman (from Desert Hills)

Monica, the less active we are helping to quit smoking is doing a little better. We made a deal that she doesn’t have to stop cold turkey, but she can only smoke half of the cigarettes and then we will cut it down each week. The elders are also helping with her, so she gets double time. Things are going really great here though.

It has started to get COLD!!! The high today is 41 degrees and man.. it’s the worst because it gets windy and the wind goes RIGHT through your clothes, so pretty much it feels pointless to wear clothes. But I wear them so I don’t scare people. Working out in the mornings is a struggle because we want to go out and run and
do stuff outside but hahahaha no. We were outside for like 10 minutes today and gave up and just went back inside our apartment and worked out in there. 

Also, Thanksgiving, boy I’m excited. We have 2 dinners and they are with the coolest people. I will be sending lots of pictures next week :) 

We are trying the best we can to find those that are prepared and ready to learn about this amazing gospel that we have in our lives. I love being a missionary. It really is the best thing in the whole entire world. How lucky am I ?? so lucky. I love this gospel so much and I love helping those learn more and come closer to our Savior. I love how I am the one who relays the message, but it’s all
the spirit that teaches them and helps them understand. 

Scripture of the week: Philippians 4:13 - we have used this scripture a lot this week and it has really hit me hard. It’s simple and sweet but it just says that we can do all things through Christ because he strengthens us. I know even when I have a hard day, I am being watched over and it’s just my time to be strengthened. 

I LOVE YA’LL SO MUCH :) 

Love Sister "freezing" Brooks :) 

 It's 40 degrees outside. That is cold to us!

 Less active member's cat.  The only cat I have ever liked. ;)

 Our less active we started teaching.  Her name is Vicki

This little girl is Baylee.  We helped with her birthday party.  She loves us.  

We have Thanksgiving, part 1, with her family. 

Story time- we are at Wendy's and we went up to pay and this lady

stopped us and told us she was paying for us and invited us to sit

with her. She told us she was Mormon and told us her story and she was having a rough day and decided to do something nice for someone.  She saw us walk in and knew she needed to do something for us. She was so nice!!!

Here is our picture with her:

Mondays- THE BEST DAYS EVER!

Happy Monday y'all :) 

I have always hated Mondays, but when you get on your mission, THEY ARE THE BEST DAYS EVER!!!!! I love hearing from all y'all and getting all the pictures, they are seriously my favorite!! Its even better cause I can save them on my Ipad and look at them all the time :) So Send away! 

Things here in Virginia are going so good. I seriously love it here. It is starting to get really cold, EW, but thank the heavens for a car and a nice heater. ;)  On Wednesday, we had interviews with President Wilson and it was Sister Tadd’s birthday. Cafe Rio is right next to the Stake Center where we were having interviews, so can you guess where we went?  Yes! Cafe Rio. It reminded me so
much of home and mmm it was yummy!! Interviews went great with Pres. Wilson.  He seriously is so amazing! I love him and he is so loving and he truly cares about each missionary. I am very lucky to have him as my mission President.  We have this blind sister who is in our ward and her boyfriend is also blind and
they live together. I don’t understand how they do it, but they are amazing. Jo, the girl, became blind because when she was little she had shaking baby syndrome which caused her to be blind. Jesse, her boyfriend, was a pre mature baby and was put under a light and it was too bright for him, which caused him to be blind. Their
stories are so sad, but they are so strong and amazing. Jesse is getting lessons from the elders right now which is cool :) We take Jo walking every once in awhile, She wants to get back in shape. It is so fun to talk with her and to really appreciate the sight that I have. I have grown to really love and appreciate my eyes and the beauty that is around me. 

We have been tracting and talking with people like crazy to try and get new investigators. We haven't had too much luck, but still having faith and relying on the Lord.  We have had two less actives that we are working with and they are so sweet. One is named Vicki. She called us Thursday and asked us if we would be willing to come over and teach her a little about the church. She hasn't gone to church since she was baptized and that was at age 15. Her husband wouldn't allow her to go, and they recently got a divorce and she really wants to start coming back. She has had a VERY hard life the last 6 years with her husband and her son and his wife, who are MAJOR drug addicts and have taken advantage and stolen from her the last 6 years. But she is so sweet and amazing. We are working with her and just teaching her all the missionary discussions because she doesn't remember hardly anything
about the church. 

Then, we have been working with Monica, I sent a picture last week. She is a major smoker and she wants to quit really bad. We have been helping her and giving her talks to motivate her. She decided that Sunday (yesterday) she would officially be done smoking. We went by on Saturday and helped her move furniture, she said it would take us two girls at least two or three days... it took us 20 minutes, she underestimated us. ;) She then asked us to really pray and fast for her on Sunday so she could stop smoking. She gave us her two packs of cigarettes that she had, it was weird to have cigarettes in my purse, and her debit card so she couldn't buy
anymore. We fasted and prayed like crazy for her yesterday. She woke up feeling very sick, and the elders gave her a blessing. Sad news... She called us this morning and asked for her debit card because she couldn’t do it anymore. We were very frustrated, but we are going to continue to work with her and pray for her. 

The scripture this week: 3 Nephi 5:13- Jeff showed me this one right when he came out and it really stuck with me. it says how we are disciples of Christ and we are called by him to go and preach the gospel so people can have everlasting life. it really makes me realize how lucky I am to be called from God to serve in Virginia. I
am so blessed and lucky to be spreading this amazing message and helping others come to Christ. What better calling could I get?? I seriously love being a missionary and love seeing people learn more about Jesus Christ. I love ya’ll so much. I am praying everyday for ya’ll!! Keep up the amazing work :) 

Love Sister Brooks

We matched!

Sister Tadd's birthday.  We made cake!

Huge leaves

So, pretty much, I am a celebrity!

Email- Monday, November 09, 2015

Hello Everyone!
I have been transferred to Richmond, Virginia.  My new address is:

Sister Kaylee Brooks
6712 Miami Ave.
Richmond, VA 23226

Transfers were so scary, but worked out AMAZING!!!!! I only moved about 15 minutes away. I am now in the Glen Allen Ward. My companion is Sister Tadd, we met on the sisters Facebook page, so it was cool that we already felt like we knew each other!! She has been out 2 transfers longer than me. We get a long great and I seriously love her!! :) So the Glen Allen ward hasn't had any sisters in their ward for about a year now. They have just had Elders. When they found out we were coming, they were all so excited. We are seriously treated like celebrities. Yesterday at church was so funny, we couldn't walk two steps without having tons of people around us. What can I say? They love us sisters :) They had some troubles in the past with the sister missionaries, that's why they were taken out of this area, but we seem to be winning over the ward’s hearts already :) he he. We were white washed in, meaning we are both new to the area, so it has been a interesting week trying to figure everything out.

We had dinner with one of our ward members on Thursday night, and we had some time to kill before our Book of Mormon class the missionaries do for the ward, so we decided to tract for a little bit. We prayed a miracle would happen and we would have faith to find more people to teach and come to Christ. We knocked on this door where a girl age 20-30 lives. She was all emotional and told us that she knew God sent us to her because she hasn't been doing the right things and really wanted to find a religion and start going to church. AHHH!!! so cool. We talked to her a little and set an appointment up for the next day. We went back on Friday and talked to her about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. She just smiled and kept saying how it all makes sense and how amazing it way. We gave her a Book of Mormon. We asked her to be baptized and she said yes without hesitation. woo hoo!!! She is scheduled for November 29 :) She was supposed to come to church yesterday, but she worked until 4 in the morning and woke up with a really bad migraine... lame. Satan is the worst. We are praying everything works out!!

We are working with this less active, seriously the funniest lady. (picture to come) she has a really bad problem with smoking. We have met with her twice and she already told us "wow, it seems like you girls have been doing this all your life, you can't tell ya’ll just came out" biggest compliment ever. She also told us last night, that starting next Sunday, she is done smoking. She has changed in just 3 days!!! Its crazy. It has been so cool to meet her and see her change so much already.

It is getting FREEZING. I'm doing to die. It has been raining and has been 40-50 degrees. Yeah, I'm not ready for this winter. Thank the Heavens we have a car!

Speaking of car, we stole the Elders car and now they are on bikes. We feel kind of bad they are biking in the cold, and we are all warm ;) Therefore, sister Missionaries are the best. :) JK

Scripture of the week: Doctrine and Covenants 104:82- its talks about how we need to humble ourselves, be faithful and pray and we will be able to get the victory. Since I am on a mission, I relate it to missionary work. As long as I humble myself, trust in the Lord, be faithful, and pray, I will receive my victory. (bringing others to Christ)

I love being a missionary!! :)

I love ya'll so much. Have a fabulous week and keep being amazing!!!


Love Sister Brooks

Saying goodbye to Mechanicsville friends was hard:

 Worst day ever saying goodbye to David!

Saying Goodbye to Sister Fuhriman (and her new companion)

 With my companion Sister Tadd in front of our apartment

 The apartment complexes next door give out free Starbucks hot chocolate!

 Dinner at ward member's house.  They are so nice!

(They text this picture and the next one to my mom)

Funny less active member

People are funny! I' m being transferred!

November 02, 2015 Email

Hello to the coolest people in the world, 

This week has been kind of frustrating. We have had to "drop" some of our investigators and a lot of other potentials. So pretty much that means they aren't progressing, don't want anything to do with us anymore or just being dumb. So annoying, people just don't understand how much the gospel will help them in their lives. We have run into some really interesting people again this week. Virginia is crazy. There seriously are some funny people ha ha. We were tracting one day and we knocked on this guys door, it was the third door of the night, he comes out in this long grey dress/pajama weird thing and just talked with us for 40 minutes about HIS religion. It was seriously the weirdest thing. He was telling us what the bible says and how we shouldn't celebrate any holidays and the Sabbath is on Friday and Saturday and all this weird stuff. Then we had another man the next day tell us our religion was Bull ______
(inappropriate word). Then we had some man swear at us. and Then..... we had some dude flip us off while we were walking down the street... people are funny. 

I found out on Halloween night that I am getting transferred. I am really excited to have another adventure with another companion and somewhere else in Virginia. It has been really hard saying goodbye to the people in the ward I have become close to, and
especially David. I was with him when I received the call from the AP and when I told him I was leaving he just started crying and told me where ever I was, he was going to move there. It broke my heart, he is seriously the best. I will miss him so much. 

We have been working with this less active and doing service for her every week. She is the BIGGEST hoarder that I have ever seen in my life. She has PILES of newspapers and magazines from 2008. It’s bad. But we have been working on her to come to church ever since I have been here. She hasn't come to church for over 13 years. and
GUESS WHAT?? She came with us yesterday!!!! It was so cool. The funny thing is, her name is Temple. Ha ha she is so funny too. She is 40 years old and acts like she is 12. 

 Making cake at Temple's house last week.

This week has been a lot of tracting. Not very much success sadly, but the Lord  will put us in the path of those that are prepared!! 

Scripture of the week: Doctrine and Covenants 62:3. It talks about how we need to bear our testimony frequently and how every time we do, it is recorded in Heaven. Being on a mission really has strengthened my testimony. It is so cool how I am able to bear my
testimony so often during the day. I love it!! 

I love ya’ll so much. Keep up the amazing work and don't ever give up! I LOVE YOU! 

Love Sister Brooks

Elders (Zone leaders) in our ward and the guy, Jonny, they baptized.  

We are with David- we baptized. 

We are soaked, even though you can't tell.

My favorite people at Hanover Adult Center- Handicap Adults. 

With our neighbor, Wayne.  He loves his alcohol.  He brings us food all the time.  

Temple, our less active and her dog.

This is my "granny".  She is the best!  I love Sister Kovac!

Random Light House