Mar. 26, 2018 ~ Because of Him (Week 37)

Hello, hello my family and friends!

It's hard to believe that it's already time to email again! Time sure is starting to fly by :) Thank you to everyone who let me know that you still read my posts. Haha... I feel very supported and loved and I’m grateful for all of you!

This week was one of a kind! 

1. Sister Penrod received a phone call from President saying that she has been reassigned to finish her mission in Puerto Rico. (To recall your memory, she was evacuated from that mission to this mission after Hurricane Maria destroyed the entire island.) She finishes her mission in 2 transfers, so we were very surprised to receive notice that she was leaving. And we definitely all cried. But someone in PR must need her more than we do, right now. I love her so much and will be sad to see her go on April 2. It’s been the best 5 months living with her! Remind me to tell you her story when I come home. :) I look up to her so much!

2. Nha's whole family is getting baptized! (She is the Vietnamese girl we have been teaching). After we started teaching her, we recommended that the Vietnamese speaking elders stop by their home to talk to the parents. For the past 3 weeks or so, we have been teaching the kids (because they're afraid of the elders) and the elders have been teaching the parents. They have come to church every week and this week we set dates with the kids and the elders set the date with the parents. Everyone is getting baptized April 8th and we are all super excited!

It's been fun to work with the elders through it all!! (We saw them walking one afternoon.... I took this picture and told them to send it to their mothers!)

3. We also set a baptism date with a girl named Natalie! Her parents are less active and as we have tried to help them come back to church, their daughter has shown interest in getting baptized! We set the date for her for April 29th!

4. We found this guy named Samuel on Wednesday. He invited us back to teach him the next day at 9 am. So, we definitely went and it was an awesome lesson. His friend actually joined us half way through the lesson and was a very good support for Samuel! He said He knows the Restoration is true and he also wants to get baptized! Super golden!!! Talk about miracles, right!?

5. I LOVE MY COMPANION SO MUCH!

We are teaching like crazy and doing everything we can to give President no choice but to keep us together a 3rd transfer and leave me here in this area.

6. 'Murica

7. It has rained a TON here. So, everything is green and pretty :) … don't let this picture fool you, though. We really do live in a dirty city.

8. In our apartment we are constantly pulling pranks on one another. This week, we got Sister Coates sooo good. She was in the shower and her companion (Sister Penrod) yelled in the bathroom to let her know apartment checks were here. Our apartment was a WRECK and Sister Coates, who is a little bit OCD, started screaming from the shower, "RIGHT NOW!? what do we do!? Our apartment is a mess!! Can you stall them!?" I valiantly offered to stall the non-existent apartment checkers, and Sister Londoño and I talked outside the front door to sound as though we were conversing with the mission housing coordinators.

Meanwhile, Sister Penrod stayed inside to "help" (but really record) her companion. Sister Coates rushed out of the shower, grabbed anything she could see that was out of place, and started throwing things in cupboards, under the sink, in closets, and under beds. Somehow, she managed to jump out of the shower, get dressed, and clean our apartment in under 5 minutes. 👐👐😂 when she opened the door and saw my companion and I pretending (but obviously succeeding) to talk like Latino men, she screamed, "I HATE YOU ALLLL!!!" and slammed the door. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my whole life. I am still laughing as I write about it. 😂😂😂😂 Super grateful for mission memories and the best friends I have made here. ♥️

9. It wouldn't be a weekly email without a picture of my companion sleeping. Right? 😉
I LOVE HER!

The Vietnamese speaking elders have given us all Vietnamese names. Her name is "Hãy Đi Ngủ lòng lửa ngu", which means narcoleptic fire dragon. I laughed so dang hard. 🤣

10. Nha's mom fed us dinner this week. Not sure what we ate, but it is some kind of muffin thing with shrimp and egg and other good stuff in it. It was super delicious.

11. We found some walls where the things painted on them were actually pretty and uplifting! Which is about as rare as winning the lottery. So naturally, pictures.

12. I thought I was turning into a real hipster, because I go to In-n-Out quite regularly. But I ate sushi on Sunday and I realized how un-hipster I really am. Still not a huge fan of the whole "raw fish wrapped in seaweed" combo. Sorry to all my hipster friends. Still love ya.

13. We are going to the coast as a district today.

This quote from Joseph B. Wirthlin really hit me this week.

"I think of how dark that Friday was when Christ was lifted up on the cross. On that terrible Friday the earth shook and grew dark. Frightful storms lashed at the earth. Those evil men who sought His life rejoiced. Now that Jesus was no more, surely those who followed Him would disperse. On that day they stood triumphant. On that day the veil of the temple was rent in twain. Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Jesus, were both overcome with grief and despair. The superb man they had loved and honored hung lifeless upon the cross. On that Friday the Apostles were devastated. Jesus, their Savior—the man who had walked on water and raised the dead—was Himself at the mercy of wicked men. They watched helplessly as He was overcome by His enemies. On that Friday the Savior of mankind was humiliated and bruised, abused and reviled.

 "It was a Friday filled with devastating, consuming sorrow that gnawed at the souls of those who loved and honored the Son of God. I think that of all the days since the beginning of this world’s history, that Friday was the darkest.

"But the doom of that day did not endure.

"The despair did not linger because on Sunday, the resurrected Lord burst the bonds of death. He ascended from the grave and appeared gloriously triumphant as the Savior of all mankind.

"And in an instant the eyes that had been filled with ever-flowing tears dried. The lips that had whispered prayers of distress and grief now filled the air with wondrous praise, for Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God, stood before them as the first fruits of the Resurrection, the proof that death is merely the beginning of a new and wondrous existence.

 "Each of us will have our own Fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays.

"But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death—Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come.

"No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come. In this life or the next, Sunday will come."

I'm so grateful for a Savior who died so that we may live.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-00-1420-because-of-him?lang=eng

What do you have Because of Him? How has your testimony grown Because of Him?

(Ps… These aren't rhetorical questions. I would love to hear your thoughts/insights/testimonies about the savior and his life/atonement/death/resurrection!

Please send me an email FB message or you can even write me a letter! 😊

Message my mom for my address)

I hope you all have a Happy Easter and General Conference weekend!

I love youuuuuuuu!!

Xoxo

Hermana Brooks