Monday, November 28, 2016

New area, new companion, and new people to love! So much to be THANKFUL for!!

Sister Wastlund and I emailing at the church
and playing sports games for P-day

Happy Thanksgiving :)


   I seriously have so many things to be grateful for. I am so blessed. I have never been so happy in my whole entire life. So many blessings are coming my way and things are falling into place so wonderfully! Ahh, life is so amazing!

    I transferred last week and am now serving in Harrisonburg, VA. It's North West Virginia and so far, it has been so wonderful. I already love it here. The ward is YSA and family, so we are able to work with both, which is really fun. Best of both worlds!! We have James Madison University (JMU) in our area, so we can proselyte there as well. Thank goodness, because I LOVE working on campus. We have another set of Elders in our ward, they are the zone leaders, and they used to be strictly YSA, but since it is Thanksgiving break this past week and school is going to be out soon, we compromised and said that we could all do both. These elders have been very nice to show us around and tell us things we need to know, since we did white wash. #blessings 

    Now, let me tell you about my cute companion. I LOVE HER TO DEATH. Her name is Sister Wastlund and guess where she is from.... you guessed it, St. George, Utah :) She went to Pine View High School. She seriously is the cutest thing in the world. I feel like I have known her forever, which I haven't, I just met her 6 days ago. We have been having so much fun together already. This transfer is going to be so darn fun. She is so amazing; I am so impressed with her already. I am so sad I am only going to be with her for 6 weeks, but we can hang out when she gets home. 

   It was really hard to leave Chippenham, I seriously love that ward so much. I have met so many wonderful people and have made so many wonderful friends there. I will cherish and hold on to those friendships forever. I met one of my best friends there. I am so glad God sent me there; he knew I needed the people and those friendships. I can't tell you how much I loved serving with Sister Fitt, actually I can, I love her so much I'm making her come to Dixie State University with me and live with us, so I guess you could say I love her around the world 1948194 times. She is amazing, she taught me so much and has also become one of my bestest friends. It was also so fun serving around the Ap's. Holy cow, they are such wonderful missionaries and do SO many things for this mission.  But, thank goodness I can still talk, see and be friends with those I met forever. Reason #4321 why missions are amazing-the friendships. On Monday, there were about 15 of us who went out to a goodbye lunch for me.  It was so sweet for everyone to come and it was fun being with them before I left. 



     Now back to Harrisonburg... We received a call Wednesday from our investigators Brian and Dee. They have been engaged for 5 years and want to get married, but they are waiting for school to be over because if they get married, then they won't have as much money. (Lame) They were introduced to the church by one of our members; she works with Dee in a dentist office. They had us over Wednesday night for a pre-Thanksgiving feast. They were so sweet. Brian is a little more into what we have to share and LOVES the Plan of Salvation. He was so excited when we were explaining it to him. They are so darn sweet!! 

     Michelle is a recent convert; she just got baptized about 3-4 weeks ago! Wow, she is amazing. She truly wants to do everything she can to be better and follow Jesus Christ. She has some struggles, but knows God is helping her along the way. She is so strong. We met her on Friday and the spirit she brings with her is amazing. 

       We had a good Thanksgiving. We went over to a member’s house and they invited a recent convert, his wife and his mother, They were Chinese, so talking to them was a struggle. Haha but they were so nice to have us over and invite us in to their home. They had a little boy named Samuel, he is 7. After racing little remote control cars and playing Uno, we sat down and I played the ukulele, while he sang Christmas songs. It was the cutest!! He's my new best friend.  

    We have been doing some tracting lately.  I thought I would never admit it, but I missed it so much. It’s been so fun to knock on doors and talk to people again. I forgot how mean, funny, weird, sassy and great older people/families are!! It's been fun walking up and down streets and stairs talking about Jesus Christ. 

     We were out visiting some potentials and some investigators and we decided we should try Donna. Donna’s son, Cesar just got baptized a few months ago. She has been able to see such a big change in him and loves how spiritual he is now. He introduced her to the church and has met with the sisters once and has been reading the Book of Mormon. We asked her how she felt about it and she just paused and said, "It’s so amazing." We asked her how she felt about baptism and she said she knows she wants to; she just needs to get her answer first. She said she wants to take it a little slow, but when she feels the Holy Ghost, she won't be able to deny it. 

Scripture of the week: D&C 50:24 "That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day." I love how in this gospel we are always learning and we are always receiving more light and becoming brighter every day as we learn. We need to continue to learn, so we can shine the light brighter to those around us. 

I love y'all so so much! 

Here's my new address for the next few weeks: 
236 Rocco Ave. Apt. D 
Harrisonburg, VA 22801

Love Sister Brooks :)


Saying goodbye to Chippenham friends:
Recent convert, Marcus Grant

Shea McCart

Louis

 The Squad!


My New Area- Harrisonburg








We found a gorgeous park! 


We are the Double Dubs Crew- 
Double W- Waynesboro West Zone
 Elder Richter and Elder Williams, Sister Wastlund and Me


















Monday, November 21, 2016

I'm going to have a baby! I'm going to be training! Yippee!!

Emailing at the church with Sister Fitt
 (for the last time before transfers)


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!! (On Thursday) 

Holy smokes, I can't believe it's already almost thanksgiving. It's so weird to see all the Christmas stuff up and seeing all the lights, it's really crazy!! I feel like it was just barely Christmas and I was with Sister Tadd in Glen Allen.... but no!! This is going to be such a scattered email, but there are just so many funny/great things I want to share. 

   So we had transfer calls on Saturday evening, I AM TRAINING!! Sister Fitt is training as well. So we will both be having little babies (mission lingo, it's so weird haha) I am so excited. It's going to be such a wonderful last transfer.  I can't wait to tell you all about her next Monday!! I'm excited to be in a family ward again, especially for the holidays!! 

    I am so happy I have been able to serve in the Chippenham YSA ward. It has been so amazing!! I have learned so many wonderful things, met so many wonderful friends and have been able to see so many miracles.  I am so so grateful to be here and to be a missionary. But, I know my next area is going to be amazing as well :) 

Sister Fitt, Me and Colton
   The other night, we were contacting with Colton, (seriously he is amazing, and he drops everything for us and will come out and teach with us whenever we ask). We were walking back to the church and kept smelling all of these wonderful smelling foods. We walked right past Dominoes and literally our mouth watered. So of course, Sister Fitt and I don't mess around, so right after we got back to the church, we turned around and ordered pizza. Yes, we ate the whole box as we sat on our floor. Best choice ever. As missionaries, there's this thing called 6 months to sexy (trying to lose all the weight they have gained before they go home, as you can tell, I have not been participating due to random pizza runs at night) #6minutestosexy?

    Tuesday was super fun. We had Sister Mooney & Sister Purcell with us for the day since their trainers are going home this transfer and they went to the temple. So we got to go on splits on VCU campus and go nuts! They're also really funny and we had a blast. We were also able to teach Malcolm, an investigator on date for December 3rd. He's really great, but hopefully we can get him to church these next few weeks so he can still get baptized on that day! 

      On Wednesday, we started our morning by heading over to the mission home for a lesson! We had a less-active, Jeff, and his nonmember girlfriend, Stephanie, go over so we could teach them. We were able to teach them the Plan of Happiness and Stephanie really seemed to like it. President and Sister Smith also gave really good input as well, which is nice. The cool thing is when Jeff kept whipping out scriptures for her to read and at the end when he baptismally invited her on a specific date! The spirit was really strong. Later we taught this guy Louis... he was interesting to say the least. Let's just say his view of how God thinks of us is like how we think of ants. Also, when he prayed at the end, he prayed that we sisters wouldn't get robbed, stabbed, or beat up like everyone else in Downtown Richmond, which was nice. HAHA.

 McKenzie our investigator!!!!!! 
   Wow, oh wow, oh wow!!!!! Crazy cool miracle!! We got a referral the other day for this girl named McKenzie! She is probably the most solid person I have ever met on my mission. Her background information said she really wanted a Book of Mormon and to give her a call to set up a time to meet with her. We called her and she agreed to meet with us the following day. Wow, I can't tell you how amazing she is. She has had a lot of life experiences that has led her to the Mormon Church. Her mom even met with the missionaries a few times. She said she was looking for peace and comfort and she knew she needed to meet with us, so she referred herself on Mormon.org and chatted with the missionaries online. As we were going through the restoration, she was so excited to hear it all. We asked her how she felt about the first vision; she said she felt so much peace and knows she needs to go this route. We invited her to be baptized and she didn't hesitate at all!! She also came to church yesterday. She literally is the cutest thing. I have only known her for a day, but I feel like I have known her so much longer. I can't wait to come back for her baptism :) 

Scripture of the week: Mormon 9:21- I love this scripture because it tells us if we believe in Christ and pray and ask Him for the things that we need, if it is His will, He will let it happen and give it to us. I am so grateful for prayer and the opportunity we have to pray anytime we need to. 
I love y'all so so so much! Y'all are my fav! 


Love Sister Brooks :) 

Zone p-day. Going to the mission home. 

The Gang
Gelato Celesti with my best friends!

I love my companion, Sister Fitt!


My District

So many wonderful people in Chippenham YSA ward:
Lindsay, Me, Lindsay and Morgan 

Michelle Thomas, a recent convert! 

Investigator Chris! 

Lily

Emma Claire

Katherine and her boyfriend Alex 

Anna

Brittney, hopefully coming back to her wedding in April. 
The Boswells. They are so amazing!!!!!

Haley Phinney 
Lauren Crowley 



Jessie 

Cristhian 

Junior

Jessie again! 

Louis

Tawny

I love Tawny and Colton 

Jeremy