Missions can be FUNNY and SCARY!

Monday, August 24, 2015

Hello sweet family!

This week has been another great week. We received another investigator who is so excited to learn about this wonderful gospel!! We have her on date for baptism for the September 5. So we have two baptisms that date. We are hoping everything goes according to plan and they both can get baptized. We were truly blessed with her and definitely a miracle we found her. She is 21 years old and had a really rough background and past life. She has two jobs so will be working a ton. We are taking her shopping tomorrow to get some church clothes because she doesn't have any. It's going to be so fun!!

David, our other investigator that is getting baptized on September 5, is doing amazing. He is 56 and is so amazing. We are definitely blessed with him too. I will be sending a picture of him very soon. He is so excited to get baptized and is willing to give up anything. Which is pretty much everything ha ha. He had some Word of Wisdom problems. he isn't very wealthy, so he lives in a trailer home, but is willing to do anything he has to, to follow the Lord. He sent me a text the other day (I will send a picture of it) that totally made me feel so happy and comforted. He is so so nice.

Funny/scary story time. We were tracting on Tuesday Night and since there aren't any sidewalks in Virginia, just grass next to the road, you have to park there. We knocked on this door and this older lady answered and wasn't interested, of course. We continued down the road. We were talking to some old guy and I just had a sick feeling to my stomach and I heard a car alarm go off. Instantly I knew that was our car but I didn't want to stop our little lesson because I didn't want to be rude and it was going pretty well. When we were done, I told my companion that we needed to go back to our car and check it because I didn't have a good feeling. It was around 8:15 so it was getting dark. As we walked to our car, a guy was standing there waiting for us. He walked up to us and asked, is this your car? I was like "uhh yeah, what do you need?" He told me he left a note in the car for us and walked away. I opened the door and it stunk so bad of smoke and there were ashes all over the place with a note saying "Get off of my lawn". We called the Sister training leaders, then they called president and he told us to call the police. We did.. The sister training leaders came to be with us. The operator lady told us to sit in front of the guys house so the police could find us. We didn't want to go back at all, but we did. We then get a text from the sisters in the car behind us telling us to hurry and lock our door because the guy was coming out. He stood in the middle of the road staring at us. It was scary then, but it's hilarious now. He broke into our car, but thankfully didn't steal anything. Well,  that we know of yet. The police came and they talked to the guy. Of course he made up all sorts of lies. The police gave him a warning and told him to not trespass into people's cars and we have every right to park on the grass because there aren't any sidewalks. It was an interesting night. 

I also went on exchanges this week. Our sister training leaders are Hermanas (Spanish speaking). I went into their area with Hermana Kingsley. During lessons, I had no idea what was going on because they were all in Spanish. But it was pretty funny and I had a fun time with her.

I love you so dang much! Thank you so much for the support and prayers. Ya'll (yes I am already starting to say that a little, Aunt Carole and Uncle Tim would be so proud) are the best family in the whole entire world. Send lots of pictures, they are fun :) I love ya'll!!!

 We knocked on their door.  They never answered!

Yes, more Monkeys (Missionaries) jumping on the bed!

Woo Hoo! Email

Monday, August 17, 2015

Woo hoo! I am finally in the wonderful state of Virginia :) It seriously is the best. It hasn't been very humid lately, but the days when they are, are not fun at all. ha ha. Virginia is so much different from Utah!! For one, there are trees EVERYWHERE. On the roads, they are right up to them. They don't have any side walks, so its either grass or giant trees. The speed limit is 45 in residential areas and 65-70 on the free way. It's so fast!!  The roads are SUPER narrow and turn like crazy. I don't know how they do it. They also don't have any street lights, so when the sun goes down, it's SO dark. It's kind of creepy with the narrow streets and the crazy tall trees everywhere. The mission is amazing. I have been in Virginia for one week and I already love it so much. The area I cover is just one ward and it's a big area. They have to travel like 20 or so minutes to church for some of them. We get pretty spoiled and get member dinners almost every night. It is so dang awesome!!!!

The week before I got here, the sisters found an investigator named David Miller. They taught him one lesson and have committed him to be baptized!!! We taught him again last week, invited him to church and he came to church with us!! I'll hopefully be having a baptism on September 5 :) woo hoo!! Missionary work really is so exciting, there are definitely difficult times, but nothing is better than serving the Lord. People in Virginia are Catholic or Baptist and believe in the bible and want nothing to do with us. Tracting sometimes is really hard and man, in a week, I've already met some nasty people!! ha ha They are really rude and truly do slam the door in your face. Thank goodness the Spirit is with me or else the Brooks side of me would come out and I would punch them in the face telling them they don't know what they are missing. he he. I want to do that sometimes. 

Oh, I forgot to tell you, my last day in the MTC, Sunday, August 9th, the presidency chooses one elder and one sister to give a talk in sacrament meeting.  They won't tell you until they announce it at the pulpit.  Out of 50 people, guess who had to speak?  hahahahahah, you're right, ME!  I had to speak for 3-5 minutes about the Book of Mormon, so it was super easy!  I wasn't scared at all.  Talking is getting so easy for me now.

For our P-day, after we are done emailing, we are going shopping (clothes and food), then relax and clean our apartment- we found ants- ewwwwwww!  Missionary work begins again at 6!

Everything else has been going so well. Almost three weeks!! woo hoo! I love being a missionary!! I love you all so much!!!!!! The gospel is true :)

Love, Sister Brooks :)

 Dinner at the Whitehead's- Traditional Filipino meal.

Ready for church

P-day, at the library- emailing :)

Holy Cow, Virginia is Beautiful!

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

 I am so sorry it's been a while. Well. .  I am finally here in Virginia :)  Holy Cow it is beautiful!  Trees are everywhere.  Trees line the road and make you feel like you are in a forest.  There are not any sidewalks either.  When we arrived at the airport, President and Sister Wilson were there to greet us.  They are so cute and very nice.  We drove to a church and ate wonderful food that wasn't nasty MTC food.  We then talked and took pictures and set up our Ipads.  It weird to have some technology. Ha ha.  

Side note- After the missionaries were trained on using their ipads, they were given permission to email their families using their ipads. That was a fun and pleasant surprise.

After we emailed- yay, we went back to the Mission Home and that is where we slept.  We had a lot of fun.  The mission home is in the middle of nowhere and trees surrounding it, of course.  So so cute! Also, there's a Richmond Virginia Facebook.  Go look at it.  Sister Wilson said she was posting pictures.  When we woke up, we got ready, went to the Richmond Stake Center for breakfast and transfer meeting.  I was so scared to see who my companion was. But. . . .  I love her!  Her name is Sister Fuhriman (Furmen). She is from Seattle, Washington.  I'll send some pictures on Monday.  She is really bubbly and a lot like me.  I will most likely be with her for 12 weeks, two transfers (I'll be out 4 months). I am excited.  We are serving in Mechanicsville (super weird names here). It is about 45 minutes or less from Richmond.  Some places are really ghetto, others, usually members, have nice houses.  We didn't waste any time when we got here.  It was around 4:00 when we got back to our apartment.  I unpacked a little, then we went grocery shopping to grab some food.  Then a member called us to see if we wanted dinner at 5:00, so we rushed over.  While we were there, there were tons of tornado warnings.  It missed us by about 5 minutes, but was cool I almost experienced a tornado my first day.  After eating, we went tracting for about 2 1/2 hours.  It was weird going my first day, but was fun to keep my mind busy.  We knocked on like 25 doors.  We had a ton say no because they are all Catholic and believe they are fine with their religion and asked us to leave.  Now I am in my apartment and thought I should write you all.

Man, I miss you guys a ton.  I love you so so so so so so so so so so so so so so much!  You guys are the best ever!  Tomorrow we have 4 lessons and a dinner appointment.  It's going to be a good day.  I love you all!! :)

Love, 
Your favorite missionary, Sister Brooks

Arrived Safe in Virginia!

Monday, August 10, 2015

We received a wonderful call from the mission home in Richmond, Virginia.  Sis. Brooks has arrived safely and has had a wonderful dinner with the mission president and his wife.  She will be having Ipad training this evening and then breakfast in the morning with some more training.  She will meet her new companion, learn of her assigned area and then have lunch.  After all of that- her mission in the mission field begins!!

This is the email we received from President Wilson: (Yippee!!)

Dear Brother and Sister Brooks,

We are so grateful that our new missionaries arrived safely in Richmond.  They were a bit weary due to early morning travel, but we fed them dinner, held a brief orientation, and got them some rest.  I met individually with each of our new missionaries and am so impressed by their dedication and desire to follow Jesus Christ.  Tuesday morning, we assigned them their first area and missionary companion.

Sister Kaylee Brooks is serving with Sister Fuhriman
9277 Hanover Crossings, Apt G 
Mechanicsville, VA 
23116 

Thank you so much for your love and support of these great missionaries.  It is truly our privilege to serve alongside them.  Please sign in to Facebook Group:  Virginia Richmond Mission – President Wilson Era for current pictures and events in the Mission.

May God's choicest blessings be with you.

Best regards,

E. Bradley Wilson

President, Virginia Richmond Mission

Cell:  804-477-2473

Virginia Richmond Mission

9327 Midlothian Turnpike #1B

Richmond, Virginia 23235

804-330-9620

Sister Wilson and President Wilson

At the Richmond, Virginia Airport (Kaylee is seen on the left)

 Sister Madi Fitt, Sister Kaylee Brooks, Sister Rachel Sylvester

Kaylee met these sister/friends on Facebook before her mission. 

They became very close through social media

Ipad training

 Ready for bed at the mission home

Sister Kaylee Brooks and companion/trainer, Sister Fuhriman

Our first Email! Great day!!

First Email: (Thursday, August 6, 2015)

HELLO HELLO!! Lets just say going on a mission is the best thing I have ever decided in my life. Yes it is extremely hard, but so worth it. The first 4 days were the hardest and slowest days ever. We were learning the first 2 seconds we walked into the class room. There is never ever a down time, which is nice so you don't sit there and think and cry. I may or may not have done that the first 4 nights. hehe But it has been so good. This work is amazing. I have grown so much the past week. More than I could ever imagine. I can't wait for you guys to see how cool I am. I have had some really good lessons teaching my investigators. It gets me so dang excited to leave to Virginia. I FINALLY GET TO LEAVE MONDAY. sad part is... I have to be leaving at 3:30 in the morning AHHHH!!! I have a lay over in Atlanta Georgia around 1:30, so I will call then. DON'T YOU DARE BE BUSY! I'll kill you. You seriously cant go a second without feeling the spirit here. It’s so amazing the wonderful feeling you feel while being a missionary. I cant wait to go out and be in Virginia! :) sorry this is so short. I'm just way popular and didn't have much time to write a long email. Thanks mom, Jeff, Dad, Chris, Kel, Ty, and Mike for making me popular.
I love you all soooo much!!!!
The church is true. Love your favorite, Sister Brooks.

With Krispy Kreme delivery

 New PJ's

 With Syd Layton

 In Class

 With Elder Brooks, Jeff's Friend from Cedar

 Sister Kaylee Brooks and her District

Sister Kaylee Brooks and MTC Companion 

Sister Kaylee Brooks with friend since Kindergarten, Sister Lauren Smith!

Loving these special letters from the MTC!

Friday, July 31, 2015

Hi Family!! I hope you are all doing well.  Thank you so much for the donuts :) You guys are the best!  How is my favorite family doing?  Everything is going good for me.  It’s crazy how strong the Spirit is.  Almost everything everyone says about the MTC is true- The food is gross, chocolate milk is the bomb, days are long and it
feels like it has been 3 weeks (and it’s only been two days ha ha) I taught my first investigator today.  I just got done teaching.  Even though it was a role play, it was amazing.  You could really feel the spirit.  We also received another investigator tonight we will be teaching next week.  Some are role play and some are really
investigators.  They won’t tell us which one is which, so we just have to do good no matter what.  So cool!!!!  

To answer your question about if I have seen the friends I met on facebook before coming to the MTC, I have only seen Sister Sylvester (Rachel) and Sister Fitt (Madi) a few times.  I am not rooming with any of them or hardly see them much.  We don’t even have the same lunch or dinner so that stinks.  My room loves
you for the donuts, and me too of course.  Definitely what we needed.  

Mom and Dad, thank you for the letters.  It made me so dang happy reading them.  It’s so true that getting letters is so fun.  It’s like Christmas for missionaries.  I feel bad for not writing Mike, Chris and Ty more while they were on their missions. So, sorry- kind of ha ha.  I am really lucky to have such an amazing family like you
guys.  Mike, Chris and Ty, thanks for always being such wonderful examples and always being there for me.  You guys are my heros and I look up to you so much!!!  Bebe Kel, you are the sweetest and most beautiful girl!  I am so lucky to have you as my best friend and sister.  Keep up the good work. I love you guys!

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Hello Sweet Family!  I sure do love you.  Today has been about the same-- spiritual, long, busy, and slow. :) The lessons we are taught are amazing.  Its so cool to see how much I have grown already.  I feel like a whole new person.  It’s very cool.  The bad thing. . .  I miss my “Squatty Potty”.  Please send it- I wish!  All of us feel like
our bowels are not working- must be all that MTC food.

We have been preparing so many lessons.  My companion and I have 3 lesson we need to teach on Monday.  It’s so fun to prepare and teach.  Half the time, the lessons don’t go how you planned them because the Spirit takes over and changes it to a new direction.  You have to rely on the Lord ALL THE TIME! It’s amazing what and how HE helps you. I will write more later.  It’s bed time.  I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Today was so nice to have a change.  We all met for a devotional Sunday Morning. The MTC Presidency and their wives spoke.  The are way sweet.  They did an amazing job.  We then got with our zone and had Sacrament meeting.  It was cool to hear everyone’s testimonies.  Later this night, we had Sheri Dew come and speak
to us.  She talked all about Jesus Christ and teaching others.  After the devotional, we were able to watch some videos and my district watched a video from Elder Bednar- All the Characteristics of Christ.  Best talk I have ever heard- like, Holy Cow!  I think it is only for the MTC and I don’t know why because it was amazing.  It was so nice to have a different day and settings.  It went by fast
actually. Yay!

Monday, August 3, 2105

Hello! Today was a very good day.  We were able to teach two investigators a member lesson.  It is so cool to be in such a real setting and teach people.  I can’t wait to go out and teach people.  It is so special and sweet to see your investigators and improve their life.  It finally is starting to go so fast and that is
nice.  I can’t wait to email you guys on Thursday.  I hope you get this letter before Thursday.  I will be sending it tomorrow, Tuesday, the 4th.  I love you! 

 Love, your favorite Sister

OUR FIRST LETTER! SHE'S DOING GREAT! SHE'S HAPPY! WE ARE HAPPY!

Our first letter from Sister Kaylee Brooks, received in the mail on Saturday, August 1, 2105

Wednesday at 10:00 at night (the day she entered the
MTC):

I survived one day!!!! :)  I am doing really good.  They sure keep you very busy here which is nice,  My companion is nice and we get along fine. I saw Lauren right as I walked around the corner.  It was fun to see her.  I have seen so many people I know, it's crazy.  Jeff's friend Josh Boyer is in my branch, so I'll see  him a lot. 
Chris, you know the girl you snap chatted, who was entering the MTC the same day I was, but later in the day, and you told her to find me?  Well, she is in my room with me and she told me that story.  She is super cute and nice!  Mom, my P-day isn't until Thursday of next week, so everyone KEEP YOUR DAY OPEN!!!! That's the only one I have, bummer.  But I will try to write every night and let you know how things are going.  I haven't look through everything, but I have seen some cute notes in my suitcase. Thank you!  I sure love you all so much and miss you, but I will be back before you know it!!  I am sorry this letter is not very long but I wanted to let you all know that I am alive and I have not died, hee hee.  I will talk to you very soon!  I love you Family :) 

Love, Your favorite Sister, 
Sister Kaylee Brooks