Feb. 26, 2018 ~ The Lord Heareth and Delivereth (Week 33)

Wow, what a week!


Having some greenie fire in our companionship has been such a blessing; we have been able to work like crazy!!

1. We have such a fun district. Last week we went to breakfast together, and this week we are having a volleyball tournament/ missionary approved movie party.

I love the friends I have made here in the field! 

2. I was privileged to receive another $10 gift card on Monday. President just keeps them in his office and initiates some kind of competition pretty much every P-Day. Definitely not mad about it. (Teresa's Note: I asked Sister Brooks how she got the gift card. She said that President offered one for whoever made a 3 point shot. She said, "I walked up, shot once and made it and then sat back down. Haha. President said he would put his money on me over anyone in the mission.")

3. On Tuesday we had zone conference and it was AMAZING. We learned so much about how to be more effective and hard working missionaries. Our zone currently holds about half of the mission's numbers- which is crazy. I love being in this area with such hardworking missionaries. 

4. The activity day girls in the ward surprised us with dinner at the church. So cute. 

5. I laugh with my comp all day. She is pretty much a combination of all 3 of my siblings... So, naturally I am pretty much in heaven being with her and we are going to be friends forever.  (She reminds me the most of Alexa.)

(My awesome siblings. I love them. Left to right: Camilla, Sawyer, Me, Alexa)

6. I am officially addicted to Mexican food. And Chick-Fil-A. 

7. The Vietnamese branch had a Chinese New Year party and it was so awesome. We were able to stop in for a bit to eat and watch the Vietnamese Speaking elders perform their dragon dance. Serving here is the best because we experience so many different foods and cultures.

I may have tried on a dragon costume😉.

8. We actually get to teach a few Vietnamese girls in English while the elders teach their parents in Vietnamese. We taught them about their divinity as Daughters of God and gave them princess crowns.

The littlest one was walking around saying, "I'm a princess" over and over.

Lesson=Success. 👍 SO. DANG. CUTE.

I love them!

9. I think I'm killing my baby (my greenie/companion). Haha. I have started a collection of pictures featuring her sleeping in random places. 

10. But I can't blame her...

I have also never been so tired in my whole life. 

11. We are working on finding new investigators because our current ones just aren't keeping commitments like we would like them to be. So we had a great finding week and we are teaching quite a few lessons. We are excited to see what the future holds :). 

12. Please pray for Erika, Able, Raymond, Angela & her family, Rudy, and Raul. 

13. Fun story: Raul is actually our maintenance guy. Our sink is always broken so he is always here to fix it.  We have, over time, shared with him the Restoration and given him a Book of Mormon. He has told us dozens of times that he would "make time for us" in his busy schedule, but he never has. So we just kind of stopped trying to meet with him. Well, he came over on Saturday to fix our sink and he promised to come to church the next day. We didn't expect him to follow through, but he actually came! AND, we finally set up a lesson with him for this morning at 10 am. It cut into our P-Day... but he's worth it. 😊 

14. I got to see Matt & Mary Dicou! Such a surprise but so awesome! It was super good to see some familiar faces. They're some of the most amazing people!! 

15. AND THEY BROUGHT ME MY GUITAR! (Yes, I received permission 😀)
I played for a good 3 hours last night. Haha my fingers are raw and I'm sure my roommates are already sick of it, but I am so incredibly happy. 

16. We have been working with an inactive family since I got in the area 15 weeks ago. We have never been able to commit them to do anything, but this week they came to volleyball at our church! It was such a big step for them and I was so happy. Plus they have the cutest baby ever whom I adore. 

17. It's been pretty chilly and rainy here. Which I'm a baby about. But I'd take it over the snow that Utah is getting any day. 

18. It was a good week. Sorry, I can't think of any funny stories! 

It seemed as though all of my studies this week focused on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the love He has for us.

Here are some quotes and scriptures I liked :)

" He had no debt to pay. He had committed no wrong. Nevertheless, an accumulation of all the guilt, the grief and sorrow, the pain and humiliation, all of the mental, emotional, and physical torments known to man- he experienced them all." - Elder  H. Oaks

"We are lifted up unto life because he was lifted up unto death. He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows and with his stripes, we are healed."- Jeffrey R. Holland

"Having descended beneath it all, he is perfectly positioned to lift us and give us the strength we need to endure our affliction."- Boyd K. Packer

"When we think of what [Jesus Christ] could have done to those men who took him to judgement, we have a new and different sense of His condescension.  When Judas led the soldiers and the high priests to the Garden of Gethsemane and betrayed Him with a kiss, Jesus could have spoken a single word and leveled the entire city of Jerusalem. When the servant of the high priest stepped forward and slapped his face, Jesus could have lifted a finger and sent that man back to His original elements. When another man stepped forward and spit in his face, Jesus had only to blink and our entire solar system could have been annihilated.

But He stood there, He endured, He suffered, He condescended." Gerald N. Lund

"The Lord Heareth and Delivereth them out of all their troubles The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart..." (Psalms 34: 17)

2 Ne 9:21

Alma 7:11

1 Ne 19:9

D& C 122:8

Have a wonderful week.

I love you,
Hermana Brooks❤