Apr. 9, 2018 ~ Nothing so EXQUISITE and SWEET as was my JOY (Week 39)

Wow, this week was pretty dang adventurous. I'm super happy here in California. I love the members, our investigators, and the missionaries I get to serve with. It's kind of crazy how complete strangers turn into best friends...
My heart is happy. 💛💛

1. NHA'S FAMILY GOT BAPTIZED!! It was one of the best moments I've had on my mission. I will never forget the look on their faces as each one of them came out of the water. There were sooo many HUGE SMILES, HAPPY TEARS, AND HUGS!!!

Their family has completely changed my life. Nha's mom doesn't speak any English whatsoever, but as we have seen her frequently and gotten to know her family, it has been incredible how much we have come to love her. Even though we can't exchange a single word between us, her hugs and smiles let us know that the love we feel for her is mutual. You can see in her eyes and through her actions that her testimony is incredibly strong. She has expressed her gratitude for the gospel in every way she can, except through words, and we can feel and see that she loves every part of it. The whole family does!

When we took a picture with everyone, the dad said, "Oh yes, this is our family. We love our new family!". And I just thought, "This is exactly why I'm here." I love them with all of my heart. They all know that 1 year from now they can be sealed in the temple, and they are already looking forward to it!! And Crystal, the 6- year old, is already counting down the days until she can be baptized. The gospel truly does bless families!

2. Martha, our new Recent Convert (she was taught by the other sisters and was baptized last Sunday), received the gift of the Holy Ghost in church on Sunday. It was a beautiful blessing and she bore her testimony afterwards. She is so strong in the gospel already. And because of her conversion, we are now teaching her husband and daughter! We are super excited to get to know all of them!

3. Sisters Penrod and Coates left. 😣 We cried. It was really sad. But I am super excited for all of the wonderful things they will accomplish in their new areas! The people who get to spend time with them are sooo lucky.

4. Because Sisters Coates and Penrod were both taken out of their area, the people they were teaching and all of their recent converts became ours. It has been a bit overwhelming to now take over 2 areas, but it’s also been really fun. That is how Martha became our new Recent Convert and we started to teach her family. We're also going to be working with some other people who are super promising and we are excited to teach them this week!

5. I love my companion so much...

She is the funniest, kindest, and most genuine person I've ever met. Heavenly Father knew I needed her. ♥️ We laugh all day every day.

6. I FINALLY FOUND A BROOKS SIGN!!!!

I have been searching for one my entire mission. This picture made us late for dinner, but it was definitely worth it 😉

7. Danilo and Ingrid blessed their baby in church today. I love their family so dang much.

8. We visited the home of a member for dinner on Sunday, and my companion and I were in charge of the dinner message. This family isn't super familiar with the Book of Mormon, and the first time we mentioned that Jesus came to the Americas, the mom hit us and said, "C'mon stop joking around and share your message." 😂 I was thinking that we needed to share something that was simple and easy to understand. When I proposed the idea to my companion, she said, "I think it'd be funny if we talked about Ammon cutting off people's arms". Haha straight savage. 😂 Of course, I told her to take it away because she's hilarious. So, she starts explaining who Ammon is, and the family was confused on where to find the book of Ammon in the New Testament. 😂 Then when we explained that it was in the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon; the mom got so frustrated that I finally said, "How about we act it out??!"

So, we headed to the front room and found props. I found an aluminum sword hanging on the wall, and the mom said, "oh no, no, no, put that away." 30 seconds later, she came out with REAL swords and gave them to me. 😂 So, we tell the dad that he can be the king, Elder Quiros was a sheep, my companion was the lamanite who tried to scatter the sheep, Elder Huber was a fellow servant, and I was Ammon.

And we acted out the entire story with elder Quiros BAAAHing the whole time, and me trying not to literally cut off my companion’s arm with my real sword and the dad wearing a purple Happy New Year hat as a crown and it was honestly one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my entire mission. But the family is just so fun that they didn't even care how obnoxious we were being. I'm still dying just thinking about it. 😂

9. We went on a hike last week as a district...

It was a good time and I felt like I was in Utah for 0.2 seconds. Which made me really happy!

10. We got a smart phone! It’s pretty nice compared to our old one. We are happy with it! We also have our own car now that the other sisters are gone, so that has been convenient as well. We are moving up in the world!

11. I can honestly say I've never experienced so much sadness as I have on a mission. It is dang hard... But with that, I can also say that I have never felt so much joy. I didn't know that “happy tears” were a real thing until I came to CA and learned for myself. Sunday was one of the most joyful days I have experienced on my mission… with 6 investigators at church and Martha's confirmation and Nha’s family being baptized and Danilo & Ingrid blessing their baby. After sacrament meeting, Danilo (he's one of our investigators whom I love so, so much) came up to me and told me how much he loves me and how grateful he is that I am here serving a mission and I just broke down and cried right there. (Happy tears, of course.) He gave me the biggest hug (yes, I broke a rule. Sorry), and I thought, "This is exactly why I'm here".

Had I never come on a mission, I wouldn't be able to know the joy that comes with a huge smile on someone's face as they come out of the waters of baptism.

Had I never come on a mission, I never would have met so many amazing people, and made friends for life.

Had I never come on a mission, I wouldn't be able to laugh at the crazy things we do with our members...

and I probably never would have learned Spanish.

Yes, the mission is hard.
Yes, I have felt depression and anxiety and stress and heartache and loneliness and have definitely had my days/weeks where I wanted to go home...

But Heavenly Father was so kind and good for sending me here. He knew that I needed these people to bless my life forever. And I'm so grateful for Him and them and everyone who has helped me to be here.

God is sooooo good.
My heart is sooooo happy.

“Yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!

Yea, I say unto you… that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again… that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.” (Alma 36:20-21)

 And it's crazy to think that I'm more than half way done!

 I love you all! The church is true!

 “And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction.” (1 Ne 15:24 ♥️♥️♥️♥️)

 Xoxo

Hermana Brooks