Fantastic Week!! Students are BACK on Campus!

Emailing from the church- our second home ;)

Hello :)

Wow, I can't believe it's Monday already. Time is seriously flying by and going so fast. The weeks are over in a blink of an eye. I can't believe transfer calls are this Saturday. I literally just got here and I can't believe it's time for the calls already. I hope and pray Sister Johnsen and I get to be with each other for one more transfer. I am excited to tell you about the fantastic week I have had. 

   Last Monday we had Zone p-day. There is a zoo in our zone and members own it, so we took advantage of that and went to the zoo. We were able to feed the giraffes and birds. It was seriously one of the hottest days and we were all dripping wet from sweat by the time we got in our car. But it seriously was a lot of fun :) We then went back to the church and had a BBQ. Wow, it was so good, It reminded me of all the holiday parties we have.  Nothing is better than a nice, grilled hamburger. Haha ! While we were at the church, we played some sports of course. This zone p-day was a lot of fun and it was fun being with our zone some more and getting to know them. 

Zoo time lapse :)

   Monday night at family home evening, we said goodbye to Missy. She has officially gone back to Virginia Tech. I am going to miss her so much and seriously am so excited for her. She is planning on getting baptized on September 3. She hopefully will email me and send me pictures and I'll have to send them to you once she gets baptized. I am seriously so excited and happy for her. I love Missy so much. 

    We met this guy named Adrian a few weeks back. He was moving in and we stopped him as he was making a trip back to his truck to get more things. We told him who we were and he was really interested. We met with him this week and it went so well. We brought a recent convert named Alex to our lesson and they connected really well. Alex explained his conversion story and how he needed to quit doing a lot of things but how it was so worth it. It really helped Adrian put into perspective how other people are going through challenges like him and how he can overcome them. Alex was a really great help and really fellowshipped him well. 

    Okay, this story is amazing. We had a lesson with Shaquan. I can't remember if I have told you about him. Katherine came with us; she is Alex's girlfriend that introduced him to the church. We were planning on talking about some of the commandments but the spirit sure told us otherwise and we talked about God’s love. Shaquan bluntly asked us, "does God love me? I feel like He doesn't and I don't know how y'all recognize that He does." It was so sad to see that one of God’s children didn't even know or feel His love. We then had a SUPER powerful lesson and talked about how much God loves each and every one of us. During the lesson, Sister J, Katherine, and I were teary eyed because we could feel the spirit so so strong and we could truly feel the love that our Heavenly Father had for Shaquan.  Shaquan said such a sincere prayer at the end and really asked God if He was there, if He loved him, and if He could tell him why. It was so cool to see how sincere he was and how he truly wanted to know if God did love him.

We were talking with Katherine after the lesson with Shaquan and thanking her for bearing such a powerful testimony and helping us bring the spirit in. She looked at us all seriously and said, "Sisters, I just had a prompting to go on a mission." We sat there not knowing what to say. We were so shocked, happy, excited and we were speechless! Finally we all just broke into tears and cried. Katherine is 24 years old but has always had a mission in the back of her mind. She went off a really deep path a few years back and knew it wasn't the time then. We encouraged her to go home and read her patriarchal blessing. She texted us that night and told us she never really realized it, but it said right in her patriarchal blessing that she was going to serve a mission. We are super excited for her and hope she continues on the path of being a representative of Jesus Christ!! 

   It's been really nice, students started moving in on Saturday so campus is PACKED!! Yay, finally!!!  It is nice because we get to talk to so many more people and teach so many  more lessons. We have a ton of new potential investigators which is so awesome :) School starts this week, so we are going to be extremely busy! I can't wait; it's going to be a fantastic week! 

   Ryan update: he is great, he has been praying about getting baptized and he told us he knows he needs to and he wants to, he just doesn't know when. He won't set a specific date yet, but he is still working towards being baptized. Ryan went to the Philadelphia Temple open house on Saturday with our ward. He texted us that night and said, "SISTERS!! The temple was RAD!" It was so awesome to get that text from him and of course we were one happy set of sister missionaries. They got home late last night and so he didn't wake up in time for church sadly. We texted him after church to see if we could meet with him that evening. He told us he is going through some things right now and wants to take a break to figure things out. It wasn't very fun hearing that. We don't know what's going on or anything. But he said he will get back with us in a few days to let us know if he is still interested or not. We have been praying for him like crazy. Ryan is so prepared and has so much potential, we just hope he continues to meet with us and wants to learn more. 

Scripture of the week: Alma 56:56- this is about when the two thousand stripling warriors surround the Lamanites. This verse describes how none of them were slain because they had the strength of God. I love when it says, "yea, and they had fought as if with the strength of God; yea, never were men known to have fought with such miraculous strength;". I truly know if we put our trust and our strength in God, we can get through anything. Good days, bad days, God is right there with us. We can have his strength and use it to overcome our everyday trials. I know we can have that "miraculous" strength and not fall when hard times come; just like the stripling warriors did as they were fighting the Lamanites. 

I love y'all so much. Thank you for all the emails, letters, prayers and the continual love. I hope y'all have a wonderful week and always know I'm praying and thinking about y'all.

Love Sister Brooks :) 

This is Josselyn. She might be moving :(

Note from Sister Brooks' parents:

We had a really neat experience on Friday, August 19, 2016.  We were in Salt Lake and planned on going to Temple Square in Salt Lake City to see if we could see Hermana Rodriguez.  She is serving as a sister missionary with 200 other missionaries on Temple Square.  (Those who are serving at Temple Square have the opportunity to serve a proselyting mission somewhere else for three months.  Herman Rodriguez was called to serve her three months in Virginia Richmond Mission.  Sister Brooks and Hermana Rodriguez were not companions but lived in the same apartments and went on splits together.  They became very close and loved spending time with each other as much as they could.  They made a music video together that was posted a few blogs ago.  Hermana Rodriguez has left Virginia and returned to Temple Square for the remainder of her time serving as a missionary.)  We were able to find and visit with Hermana Rodriguez and her companion, Sister Chan.  It was a treat to meet her and to feel of her spirit.  She is a wonderful missionary and so darling!  After she returns from the mission, she will be going to UVU in Orem, Utah.  We are sure she and Sister Brooks will meet up again!

Yippee!! Baptisms!

Emailing at the church

Hello!! 

Wow, time is flying by so fast. These last 4 weeks have been the fastest 4 weeks of my life!!! Holy cow! Let me just say, I am so so grateful that I am here on a mission. I couldn't think of anything better. I am amazed how much our Heavenly Father truly does love each of us. He is aware of our needs. Not only do I see his love for me each and every day, I see it for those on the street, college students, homeless people and everyone around me. I know if we turn to Him and pray with questions, concerns or if we need comfort, He is always there for us and always answers our prayers.

    Well, Sister Johnsen and I had a wonderful week!! Marcus Grant was baptized on Saturday evening! It was such a wonderful service. The elders also had a baptism, so there was a double baptism and a HUGE turnout. There were so many friends, missionaries, investigators and President and Sister Smith attended as well.

Marcus is amazing. I can't remember if I have told you his story, but I will just in case I haven’t. Marcus is 24 years old.  He went to Indiana University and met the missionaries in November. He was attending every activity and church every week and meeting with the missionaries frequently. Well, he graduated college and moved back home. His family is VERY Baptist. His mother is a deaconess and doesn't approve or like the Mormons AT ALL. Well, the bishop from the YSA ward in Indiana  contacted our bishop and told Sister Johnsen and Sister Madsen, to get in contact with Marcus. So they did and started teaching him again. Marcus has faced many challenges, his father passed away about a month ago and his mom has been VERY upset with him. When I came here, he called us one day confirming his date for baptism and said he wasn't going to back down. His mom was angry and did everything she could to upset him and not allow him to go to church. He wasn't allowed to take the car or have anyone pick him up for church or any other activity. But, her heart is slowly softening and accepting the fact he wants to do this. She told him she wouldn't ever step foot in our church or touch the Book of Mormon. We hoped and wished she would soften her heart enough and come to his baptism, but she didn't, sadly. Marcus had a senior couple that is serving in Indiana, the Strongs, come to his baptism (it took a lot of strings to pull that off) and Elder Strong, baptized Marcus! He also had his friend Emma that was in Indiana and fellowshipped him come as well. It was a wonderful evening. Emma didn't have a place to stay, so she stayed at the mission home and the Smiths asked if we would stay with her.  Of course we couldn't say no! It is so fun to be with them and talk with them more! I LOVE PRESIDENT AND SISTER SMITH SO MUCH!!! 

Josselyn gave us roses... At her own baptism.

   Miracle: We were out contacting with a member one night and he decided that we needed to go down this one street. We were walking down the street and saw a girl sitting on the bench and she looked SUPER sad. We went up to talk to her and explained who we were and what we were doing. She looked at us bright big eyes and said, "Wait, no way? I was just praying and asking God why he hated me. I then asked him if he could show me if he loved me or not." We testified to her that God loves her so much and is aware of her. She was in tears. We shared the “Because He Lives” video and shared Alma 38:5 with her and just explained that God is always there for her and he will help her through anything. She loved everything we showed her and read to her. Our member was able to help her out because he went through similar experiences before he joined the church. She was very appreciative and knew she needed to look into this religion.  Sadly she was 35 so we couldn't teach her.  We can only teach the young adults in our area. We told the Richmond branch elders about her and they are going to continue teaching her. Hopefully everything goes well! 

    Funny story, we were visiting a less active and we were really close to the Clover Hill sisters, one of the sisters we work with. We decided to go leave a note on their door. We drove up and totally forgot that it was gated off and needed their little key thingy. But we were determined to get in. We were walking around pondering and thinking of a solution when a car drove up and started going through the gates. Once it turned the corner, I saw Sister Johnsen booking it through the gates. I, of course, had to run through as well, so I started booking it. We successfully got in the gates and realize.... How the heck are we going to get out? We leave the note and start walking up to the gates hoping for a miracle. We had to walk quite a ways to get to the gate and up a giant hill. We saw a car pull out of the parking spot and heading up the hill. We knew we had to take advantage of his car leaving. Low and behold, us two missionaries in skirts/dresses started running up the hill after the car. I know we looked ridiculous.  We are about 10 feet away, gasping for air and the gate starts closing.... Oh no. I BARELY slid through the gates before it closed, realizing that my companion was on the other side of the gate still. At this point, we couldn’t breathe because 1- We just ran up this giant hill and 2- we were laughing so hard. Finally a car drove through and Sister Johnsen was able to get through the gate. I wished someone had videotaped it. 

    Sister Johnsen met a guy named Ryan right before school ended. He went out of town over the summer. Sister Johnsen decided to call him on Thursday to see how he was doing and when he would be coming back for school. He told us he would be back on Friday so we set up an appointment to see him. Holy cow he is so solid!! He found out over the summer break that his step grandpa is Mormon. So that was cool! But Ryan really is excited to learn. He came to the baptism on Saturday of Marcus and Josselyn and loved it and he came to church.  We showed the restoration video last night and he came to that as well and he had a lesson with us before the movie. He will be at family home evening tonight and is going up with our ward on Saturday to the Philadelphia temple open house. He is solid!! Everyone was so good to him yesterday and became really good friends with him. That was very nice and helpful for the ward to do that. It really makes all the difference when the ward is willing to help fellowship. 

  I am so grateful to be serving in Chippenham and to be with Sister Johnsen. Seriously, life is too good right now and God is amazing and has truly blessed us missionaries. 

   Scripture of the week: Mark 8:35- it says, "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it." As I was watching the restoration video last night, (if you haven't watched it, go do it. Best hour you could spend) it really touched me and made me think of this scripture. Joseph Smith was persecuted, beaten, made fun of, murdered, and many saints were killed because they never ever backed down or denied the gospel. How amazing are they? Joseph gave his life for the gospel. Serving our savior and our Heavenly Father for a year and a half is the least I could do. I am so grateful for Joseph Smith and the life he lived. I am thankful for everything he has done for us. For having the question of what church was true and then acting on it. For having the desire, faith and courage.  For never ever giving up. I know he was called of God. I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him and that he translated the Book of Mormon. I am so grateful for him and for his strength and courage and for never ever denying this gospel. 

I hope y'all have a wonderful week and don't ever forget that Sister Brooks loves you :) 

Love Sister Brooks :)

Shopping with Josselyn and Christian who was baptized last weekend.
(He was her ride, he didn't want to be there) 

My girl Emma-Claire 

She was in a car accident so we went and saw her before Marcus' baptism. 

Right before leaving to go to the Zoo

Being a missionary IS THE BEST CALLING IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD!!

Emailing at the church

Happy Happy week!! 

     Wow, I swear, the days and weeks just keep getting better and better!! I am going to have to say, Tuesday beat last week for the best day of the mission. God is way too good and is blessing the Chippenham Ward so incredibly much. I can't wait to tell you about my amazing and wonderful week. Can I just say that being a missionary IS THE BEST CALLING IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD!!! 

  Let's talk about Haley. Holy wow. She was a referral from a member, Sam, and she came to church with her my first Sunday here. She has been friends with Sam for over 10 years and has been to church with her a few times over the years and even went to the temple grounds in Utah with Sam. (Sam attends BYU for school) We set up an appointment with her and they taught her 2 weeks ago while we were on exchanges. Sister Johnsen said it was an amazing lesson and she was so excited to be learning. Well, we had another lesson with her on Tuesday. And wow, the spirit was crazy strong. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation! She told us she was so happy to hear this. She was taught some of this at her church, but she said there were so many holes and this filled them all and answered her questions. She expressed that she wanted to be baptized and really wanted to do it with us. The only option for her to be baptized with us before she went to school, (she attends Virginia tech and leaves August 10) was Saturday, August 4 or she could wait and do it when she went to school. She said she would pray about it..... Story continued. . . . after I tell you about. . . . . . . .   Missy!! Wow, she was another huge miracle! She was also a referral from a member. She came to church last Sunday and then we met with her on Tuesday before we met with Haley. We asked her how she had the desire to come to church. She said she was on Facebook and saw Kristin's (girl in our ward) video of her opening her mission call. She said she loved how happy and excited Kristin was and knew she needed to investigate in Kirstin's church. Missy attended another church for a long time, but she knew something was missing. Missy Facebook messaged Lindsey, Kristin's sister, (she knew Lindsey better because they competed against each other in show choir), and asked her if she could go to church with them. So that's how that all started. Anyway, at church, we gave her a restoration pamphlet and invited her to read it before we met again. When we met on Tuesday, Missy had read the whole pamphlet, did the additional study on the back, and took notes on everything she read and all the scriptures as well. We were so amazed!! During the Restoration lesson, Missy was getting emotional and loved the message we had to share. We invited her to be baptized and she said she would pray about it. Side note, Missy is also going to Virginia tech for school this year and Lindsey is also attending. We had dinner with a senior missionary couple and they said we could invite whoever we wanted. We invited Haley and Missy. 

      Okay, now to bring both stories together. . . . . . Every Tuesday night is Institute; we usually are there at the beginning so we can introduce ourselves and get to know more people. Well Missy showed up with Lindsey, so that was so amazing!! We decided while they were in Institute class, we would go contact for a little bit and then come back and see how Missy liked class. Campus was so dead, so we decided to head back a little early and just make some phone calls. As we were walking back, we received a text message from Haley saying she received an overwhelming feeling on the way home and just busted into (happy) tears! She said she knew this church was true and that she needed and wanted to be baptized this Saturday. Of course we were running down the street screaming because we were so happy. I'm sure the homeless people were wondering if we were on some type of drugs. We were so excited and couldn't wait to tell Kristin (who had been with us when we were teaching Haley)  what her text said. They got out of institute and we were right at the door waiting. We were talking about how Haley wanted to be baptized and how she received such an amazing answer. The Elders were already planning on baptizing 3 people on Saturday so we were talking about how cool it would be to baptize 4 people. Next thing we hear is Missy saying, "how would you feel if you baptized 5 people... I received my answer really clear and I want to be baptized." We were in complete shock. Like what the heck. We just had 2 people ask us to get baptized in a span of five minutes!!! Well, long story short, we called our mission president about it, and because they are both leaving for Virginia Tech, we thought it would be a good idea to have them wait until they get to the YSA ward down there so they can make friends and have fellowshippers there. They should be getting baptized in about 3 weeks once they get all settled. It seriously was the best day ever!!! 

Sister Fitt, Me, and a million ducks

   This week I was able to go on Exchanges with Sister Fitt!! Holy cow I love her so much. I seriously feel like we have been friends for so long. We work so well together and had way too much fun. My dream is to be with her my last two transfers. Let’s see if I can talk President Smith into it :) (Side note- Sister Brooks and Sister Fitt met each other on Facebook before they left on their missions.  They saw each other a little in the MTC but have not been with each other much during the mission)

With our member, Allan
We were heading to teach his friend. 

With our member, Shakiela 

My girl, Sister Sorensen. 

    I also was able to go on Exchanges with Sister Sorensen. She is a new missionary and just came out this transfer. She is amazing. It's kind of scary contacting and talking to random people on VCU sometimes, but she handled it like a champ. She did so well.  She and I are also a ton alike. It was so fun to see the growth that she is already making. It took me back to when I first came out. I'm happy I somewhat know what I'm doing now! Haha 

We go and paint the old ladies nails at this rest home every Friday. 

It reminds me so much of Grandma Bella. 

    Okay, one last miracle!! Marcus, one of our investigators is getting baptized on Saturday!! Marcus is amazing. He went to Indiana University last year and he met the missionaries there back in November. He graduated with a music major and then moved back home with his family and trying to find jobs. Well, he reached out to the missionaries when he got here. Sister Johnsen has been teaching him for a little bit. His family is very mad at home and doesn't want him to get baptized at all. They are being really rude about it, but Marcus knows this is what he needs to do. He has one of the missionaries that taught him, coming to his baptism on Saturday and also one of the senior missionary couples!! We are so excited for him. He knows everything and is so smart. He knows this is what he needs to be doing and loves the church so much!! I can't wait to send you pictures next week :) 

     I can't tell you enough how much I love being a missionary. It really is the best calling in the world. I am so lucky to be here in Virginia. Ahh, I love it. It really is so dang beautiful! The trees still get me. I am grateful for the time I have to serve in the Chippenham YSA ward. This ward is amazing. It really is so much fun to be with people my age and help those learn more about our Savior Jesus Christ at such a wonderful time in their life. I wouldn't want to be anywhere but here!! 

Scripture of the week: Doctrine and Covenants 3:3- it says, "Remember, remember that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men."  Sister J showed me this scripture this week because we had a member come out with us and our appointment didn't show up. She was giving us a pep talk about how we need to keep our heads up when this happens. (It doesn't faze us anymore; we just brush it off quick) Sister J opened up to this scripture and it really is so true. Gods work isn't frustrating; the gospel is simple and perfect. But working with people and the way they exercise their agency sometimes can be really annoying and frustrating. God is great- Moral of the story, people.... Sometimes not haha. Just kidding. 

I love y'all so so so much!! Have a wonderful week and GOOD LUCK IN SCHOOL!!! Wow, I can't believe school is starting already.... Time is going by way too fast. 

Love Sister Brooks :) 

MLC this week. 

Our view on our drive home

We walked out of dinner the other day with two of our members and we saw
this squirrel run up the tree with a jar of Nutella. We couldn't stop laughing. 

Garfield mural. These pictures are for Ty. 

This is Daniel, the one who texted you mom.
 He reminds me SO much of Nate Caplin. 

Our funny picture for the week. 

We got caught in a ridiculous huge rain storm. Welcome to VA

BEST WEEK OF MY MISSION SO FAR!!!!!!!!!!

  

Email time!

Oh my goodness!!!!! I can't wait to tell y'all about my week. I have way too much to tell, so hopefully it's not long, but I'll try and make it a little shorter.  It has been probably one of the best weeks on my mission. God is way too good to us and I am amazed at how many miracles we have been able to see. The Chippenham YSA (Young Single Adult) area is blessed!!! 

   The joys of working with YSA are that you get to go to family home evening! We were able to have a quick spiritual message and then played some crazy weird chair game that my team dominated in. That was cool! It's also cool when they let you know Thursday that they want all the missionaries to speak in church, there are 5 of us total, and you only have to speak for about 4-5 minutes each. Sacrament meeting was the best yesterday :) 

   Hermana Rodriguez, a temple square missionary that came outbound here, I LOVE HER TO DEATH, had to leave to go back to temple square on Wednesday morning. :( She stayed the night at the mission home on Tuesday night and President and Sister Smith asked us if we would be able to stay with her. We, of course, totally accepted the offer. We had dinner with them and then went to a baptism with them. Holy cow, I love them so much. President Smith is seriously so darn funny and doesn't sugar coat things. We were laughing the whole time we were in the car. We had a wonderful night with them and went to bed with a huge thunder/lightning storm.

   Holy cow, Wednesday was amazing!! We didn't have time to plan for our day because we stayed the night at the Mission home, so we just planned on walking around campus pretty much all day. Our phone didn't have service at the mission home, so as we were driving away, we saw that we had a voicemail. Elder and Sister Moe are the senior couple that works in our ward. They are the cutest ever!!! They go around and work with inactives and help the ward with their family history. Anyway, they gave us a referral and told us to contact this girl they ran into, her name is Kaylee... So she's even cooler. She was moving and going out of town for a few weeks, so we decided we would try to help her move. We jumped at the opportunity and went to her house. We were driving down to her house and the GPS took us down a one way street, my life flashed before my eyes, so we decided we needed to park and we will walk the rest of the way. As we walked to her house, we met this guy named Rashawn. Holy miracle!. He has had a really hard life and just said earlier that day he wanted to learn more and get closer to God. We talked to him, set him on date and set a return appointment. We know God wanted us to meet him because if we didn't go down that one way street, we wouldn't have walked to meet him. God works in mysterious ways haha. Long story short, Kaylee wasn't home, but her roommate gave us her number. We called her and she was so excited to hear from us and set an appointment with us for when she got back! 

    Right when we were done talking to Kaylee’s roommate, we checked the phone and we had about 6 messages from people asking us to meet with them today. THAT NEVER EVER HAPPENS!! Tuesday afternoon, we texted a few members to come out contacting with us, so it was awesome because we were able to have a member at every single lesson!! We were booked; we seriously had one lesson right after another! So, for the rest of the day, we just sat at the church building and people came to us. It was AWESOME!! 

   The other night we met a guy on campus named Aubrey.  We started talking to him and sharing a brief summary of the restoration and wow it was awful. We were so jumbled up and the member we had with us just went on some random subject.. Aubrey has a religion already, but he surprisingly agreed to meet with us again. We met with him the next day and asked him, why did you meet with us again? He said he felt bad for us and he made a commitment to meet with us so he was going to stick with it. So in a roundabout way, he said he felt sorry for us. Anyway, we shared the restoration with him and as we started sharing the Joseph Smith story and reciting the first vision, his faced changed, he was so engaged and the spirit was SO STRONG!! We asked him if he believed that could ever happen and he said he knew it could. He said he wanted to learn more, be baptized and come to church. He was out of town this weekend, but should hopefully be coming to FHE tonight. It was the coolest lesson. 

    The mission just got a new projector, so the elders had the idea to get all of our investigators, less actives and anyone else who wants to come and see “Meet the Mormons”. We did that Saturday night. We had a pretty good turn out and had lots of food and were able to have some of our investigators learn a little more of what we believe. It was a really good idea!

    Okay, I'm sorry this is a mile long, but wow, I could go on about my week. It has truly been amazing!! We have been able to set 6 people on date this week that are pretty solid! We have a possible baptism this weekend, #miracle, I'll explain her story later next week if it happens. We have a definite one next weekend. His name is Marcus, (story will come next week as well) and a few potential good people on the 20th. We and the elders have so many people on date right now and we are just trying to help them learn and grow more and get them excited to be baptized. Our mission is doing crazy good with baptisms! This past weekend we had 13 and next weekend we will hopefully have 18. It's awesome!! The Lord is blessing the VRM!!!!!! (Virginia Richmond Mission)

I can't tell you how much I love my mission. It has been by far the best thing for me and has blessed me so much. There is no place I would rather be than serving in Virginia right now!

Scripture: Matthew 16:19- I am so grateful for the chance we have to be sealed for eternity in this earth. I am grateful we can be with our families together and we have the knowledge of the plan of salvation. 

I love y'all so so so so much. Have a wonderful August!!!! 

Love Sister Brooks :)

When you find crazy murals, literally on every building, take weird selfies. 

 Jamming out before zone P-day 

Zone at zone P-day. 

 I know Chris loves when I do this, so we had to take a picture for him. Hee hee

Waiting for our member to come so we can have a lesson, this is what we do.....