Sister Kaylee Brooks: Thankful to wake up each day, Home cooked meals, The Plan of Salvation!

Emailing with Sister Wastlund at the church. Hi Everyone!

Happy December!

I can't believe it and I refuse to believe it. Where the heck did November go?? I am amazed how fast time goes. I remember coming out on a mission and people would tell me how fast it goes. Literally time was so slow, I thought I would be out on my mission forever. But right out of training, I can't believe how fast it has gone. They were right. But I can now see what they mean.

This week, four major things stuck out to me. Some of them weren't super big, some of them have been going on my whole mission, but have really struck me this week.

First one is the people in the great state of Virginia's prayers. I don't know what it is, this might be everywhere and I'm just noticing it. But when people pray here, it's so sincere and it’s like they truly are talking to a friend. I love how personal they are. One of my favorite lines that 90% of the prayers I hear say the phrase, "thank you for waking us up this morning." Every time people say that, it makes me stop and think. How lucky are we, that we get one more day to wake up to such a beautiful place, to get to be able to move, breath and go about our everyday life. Yes, we may have hard days, but we are alive. We need to be so thankful for that. There's a saying that someone would say down in Chippy, he said, "I don't ever have bad days, I just have days better than others." That has also really stuck with me and has helped me realize how much our attitude does matter in every day to day situation. I love that people are thankful for another day, because some people don't get that opportunity.

Second, beautiful three words..... Home cooked meals. Wow. I have really taken for granted nice, warm, home cooked meals. We would get some home cooked meals serving in YSA, but we ate out a majority of the time. I am so so extremely grateful for those who take the time and money to feed us, but being back in a family ward has made me realized how blessed and lucky I really am to be in family’s homes and eat with them. One thing I have loved is walking in to members houses and as you sit down they say, "This is the first time I have tried this recipe, I hope it's good." Thank goodness I am here to say they have all turned out well and I haven't had very many nasty foods!

Third, this wonderful plan our loving Heavenly Father has given us called the Plan of Salvation. I grew up learning about the Plan of Salvation, but all I could grasp is That We lived with God before we came here and will be able to live with our families forever after we die. But being on a mission, I have learned SO Much about it and the whole plan God has given us and how perfect it is. Every time I teach it, I'm in awe of how amazing and perfect it really is. It answers so many of life's questions and is the perfect map and pathway for us to follow. Here's a really cool story- We were teaching our investigator Donna. Her son was baptized almost a year ago and he introduced the last sisters that were serving here to his mom. She is reading the Book of Mormon on her own little by little and knows she needs to be baptized. This was our second meeting with her and we felt very impressed to share the Plan of Salvation with her. As we were explaining, we also had little visuals, she just started sobbing. She kept saying how amazing and wonderful this was and how it made her feel so happy and warm. After we were done teaching her, we started talking about baptism and how we loved her so much, we wanted her to come and be in the celestial kingdom. We invited her to be baptized (we like having investigators to church at least 3 times) and we looked at our calendar and December 24 was going to be when she could be baptized. We invited her to be baptized then and she got emotional again. She kept saying, "wow, that would be amazing to be baptized a day before Jesus Christ birth." She really liked it and accepted the date. Hopefully she continues to progress and work towards it.

Last but not least, my sweet and adorable companion. Oh my goodness, I can't tell you how much I love her. I am so so blessed to be able to be with her. They say I'm supposed to be training her, but she is incredible, I feel like I hardly have to do anything. We are so much alike and it's so fun. I love being with her. I am so so sad that I only get to be with her for one transfer, but thank goodness I can still talk and of course hang out with her when she gets home. Ugh. She's so cute, I am so grateful I am finishing my last transfer with such a cute and amazing companion!

Dee and Brian, the investigators house we went to for pre-thanksgiving, are doing great. We weren't able to meet with them this week, but Brian took off work yesterday, which is really big for him, to come to church! It was stake conference and they sure loved it. They are having us over tonight for a lesson and dinner. They are so nice!!

If you don't know, I'm just going to tell you how stinking happy I am. These last few weeks, I haven't been able to wipe the smile of my face because of the joy and wonderful miracles I see every day. I'm a part of the most amazing work in the world. I only have a few more weeks to wear Christ’s name over my heart and on my chest each and every day. I won't be able to wear the badge soon, but I have Christ’s named engraved on my heart forever. I love him so much. He is my Savior! If you haven't already, you need to go watch the new Christmas video on Mormon.org. It's THE best two minute video you'll ever watch. I LOVE having iPads because we are able to show these to everyone we come in contact with. It is very touching and really shows us how we can be more like Christ and serve those around us every day. Being a missionary around Christmas is THE BEST!!

Scripture of the week: 1 Nephi 11:20, I love how even in the Book of Mormon, about 600 years before Christ, that the birth of our Savior is prophesied. They knew a Savior was going to come, they just didn't know when. I am thankful for this Christmas season. Not only is it the best time to share and talk to people about Jesus Christ for missionaries, but it's a time we can reflect on how much our Savior does for us and think about his birth.

I LOVE YA'LL SO MUCH!

Love Sister Brooks :)