Aug. 27, 2018 ~ I Delight to Do Thy Will... (Week 59)

Teresa’s Note: Sister Savanna Brooks asked that I, as her mom, write the post this week.

That is very brave of her!

Through her example, I have learned much about submitting to Father’s will...

and I am grateful for the opportunity to reflect on Sister Brooks and her mission.

I have seen the maturing, the stretching, the growing and refining that she has gone through over the past few years.

At times, it has been really painful and difficult to watch and see this refining process… because I can’t just jump in and make it all better. 

...All I can do is be a cheerleader as she navigates this process.

But through it all I have seen a young woman from Small Town, Utah... 

become a Devoted Disciple of Jesus Christ...

and an Instrument in our Heavenly Father’s hands.

Sister Brooks never really had a great desire to serve a mission. While growing up, she would mention the idea and then quickly push it out of her mind. She had a certain plan for her life and didn’t want that plan to change… And it was a good plan.

But Father in Heaven had something else in mind for her.

It has been wonderful to watch as He has helped her see that His plan is not always the same as her plan and how she has learned to submit to Father’s will.

I see how Father continues to help and strengthen her as she helps Him by serving and teaching His other children.

I have what I call my Mission Mom Scripture. When Savanna’s older brother, Sawyer was preparing for his mission to Antofagasta, Chile, I was worried for him and about his safety. One day I was reading in the Book of Mormon about King Mosiah and how he also felt worried about sending his sons out to serve missions…

“The Lord said... Let them go... for many shall believe on their words, and... shall have eternal life; and I will deliver thy sons”. (Mosiah 28:7) 

That verse brought me comfort. I knew that Father would take care of my son as he served. So, off to Chile Sawyer went. Having been on a mission for about 20 months, he was serving in the city of Copiapo, which had one of the highest crime rates in Chile. One particular day, I was working alone in the kitchen. Suddenly, I had the thought, “Your son was delivered today”.  Immediately, I sent an email to Sawyer, knowing that he would not be able to answer my questions until his next P-Day. I then called my husband and let him know (and although I don’t remember, I hope I said a prayer of thanksgiving & gratitude… I have said that prayer many times since 😊)…. And then I waited for P-Day.

PDay came and Sawyer said that absolutely nothing out of the ordinary happened that day…. It was just a regular day… But I know that something DID happen and that my son was delivered from something or someone…. 
I hope someday I can replay that moment to see what really happened. 😃

Fast forward several years….

Savanna decided she needed to serve a mission and I was actually okay with the idea because I had already learned that God takes care of His missionaries. 

But then Savanna threw a wrench into my peace...

She decided she wanted to chronicle her mission adventures in a public blog… for all the world to see! 

And I was worried… I worried about her physical safety as well as her emotional safety… afterall, people can be cruel on line. But Savanna has a gift when it comes to writing and she was insistent.

As I worried and debated in my mind, once again, the words to my Mission Mom Scripture came to my mind, (although there were a few little words that were different) … “Let her…, for many shall believe on her WORDS and shall have eternal life, and I will deliver thy daughter”.

And so, Sister Brooks has a very public blog chronicling her mission experiences… and I trust that Father will take care of her😊.

The blog seems to be reaching many people... 

One particular entry seems to have struck a chord with many. It is dated June 4 and is called A Letter to Prospective Missionaries.  In this post, Sister Brooks talks about the GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY of a mission and also about preparing for a mission (http://sistersavannabrooks.blogspot.com/2018/06/june-4-2018-letter-to-prospective.html). 

It has been viewed thousands of times all over the world.

In fact, one stake president in Mexico recently let her know that she is serving a DOUBLE mission… one in California and the other to help the world with this letter found on the blog.                  

Through it all, Sister Brooks has also really grown to love the Latin people in California… she says she is a Latina at heart😊.

Because she is learning to submit to Father's will, I have watched as He has used her as an instrument in His hands many times...

A couple of P-Days ago I received a disturbing message from her…

It said, “Mom something just happened, I’m freaking out and I’m going to call you in 5 minutes…”

So then I began to freak out a little. As you may know, missionaries are not really supposed to call home... except for Christmas and Mother’s Day. Thankfully, Alan was working in town on Monday and was home for an early lunch…

Sister Brooks called. She was upset and we could tell she was in shock… she proceeded to tell us what had just happened… She and her companion had been driving with a friend down a busy California freeway to meet other friends and missionaries at a park….

She looked up and on the walkway bridge over the freeway, and saw a person outside of the railing, ready to jump…. She told the friend to stop the car as soon as possible and called 911… Once the friend was able to safely stop the car, Sister Brooks got out of the car and started running... to the top of the walkway… somehow she grabbed the girl… the girl was about her age and told her that she was deaf…

Just so happens that Savanna took ASL in high school and although she says she is very rusty, she has used it one other time in her mission…

Savanna said somehow she was able to hold the girl with one hand and with her other hand she made the I LOVE YOU sign, all the while speaking/mouthing the words… 

“YOU DON’T NEED TO DO THIS, I LOVE YOU. 

PLEASE DON’T DO THIS, I LOVE YOU….”

She was able to understand the distraught girl enough to know that she was not happy with Sister Brooks… In fact, the girl repeatedly told Sister Brooks how much she hated her.  However, Savanna continued to say, “I love you, I love you”…. Somehow, she was able to get the girl to come back to the inside of the railing…. Once, the officers arrived, they asked Sister Brooks to stay and translate… she informed the officers that she felt very rusty with ASL and they said, "You know more than any of us here” …. So, she stayed.

Eventually, the girl left with the officers… A couple of officers stayed behind to talk to Sister Brooks. The officers told her that it was such a miracle she decided to stop… which shocked/disturbed her because she said anyone would have stopped…. To which they responded, “Actually, you would be surprised”. … In addition, she was also told that it was a miracle that the girl came back inside of the railing. Generally, once someone gets to the outside of the railing, it’s too late.

We know that Sister Brooks was an instrument in His hands that day… 

We know it wasn’t a coincidence that Sister Brooks was driving on the freeway at that time...

We know it wasn’t a coincidence that Savanna knew a little ASL. 

And we know that it wasn’t a coincidence that Sister Brooks knew the right things to say.

We also know that it wasn’t a coincidence that Sister Brooks’ dad, a GREAT therapist, happened to be home when she called… still in shock and processing the whole event.

Of course, we talked about how distraught the girl was, how she wasn’t thinking clearly, and what despair she must have felt. 

We talked about how the girl will hopefully get the help she needs….

AND we talked about how special this girl must be… how maybe one day, she may see missionaries wearing a badge bearing the Savior’s name and she may listen to what they have to say…

or maybe how one of the officers also might see a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints one day and listen to his/her message or reflect on God’s love for his children…

After Sister Brooks was feeling better, we reminded her that she needed to hang up and call her mission president… she didn’t want him or anyone else to think she was being boastful but she agreed…

She did call the mission president… 

Of course, he said it was OK (just this once) that she called us… 

He also told her to go get frozen yogurt, his treat, and to take the rest of the day off…

Well, she didn’t take the day off… she later taught a family about God, Jesus Christ and The Plan of Happiness and thought how she wished she could teach the girl on the bridge…

Sister Brooks never did learn the name of the girl on the bridge. She will probably never see her again. But, I believe that Father will continue to help his precious daughter... And hopefully one day, she will realize how much Father loves her.

I’m grateful that as Sister Brooks submitted her will to Father’s, He used her to help one of his other precious children….

Now obviously, this was a big, dramatic experience where Sister Brooks was one of God’s helpers…

However, there are lots of little ways that we can submit to God’s will and then in turn, help Him out…

When Savanna had been serving for about 6 months, she said (found in blog post dated Jan. 29, 2018, http://sistersavannabrooks.blogspot.com/2018/02/jan-29-2018-i-am-like-little-pencil-god.html )…

“I had an experience a couple of weeks ago that I have since replayed at least

40 times in my head. It was a Sunday night and my companion and I were walking home from an appointment. It was dark, cold and raining. Most people weren't on the streets, and we happened to pass a woman waiting at a bus stop.

She was very underdressed for the weather and was shivering as she waited. I said hello and asked how she was, to which she responded "good" (in Spanish). I pulled out a pair of cotton gloves that I had in my bag and handed them to her. She hesitated, then silently and slowly took the gloves out of my hands. Tears filled her eyes and her lip started to quiver more than it had been from the cold. Without either of us thinking, we embraced, and the woman began to sob on my shoulder.  The only words I could choke out through my own tears were "God loves you", over and over. Then, too quickly, the bus pulled up, she got on, and waved goodbye as it drove away. I don't think we exchanged more than 10 words between the two of us... nor spent more than 3 minutes together... nor did I even get the opportunity to learn her name... But that woman changed my life forever.

In that moment, I felt more love for a stranger than I have ever felt for anyone in my whole life. I know that I really was nothing more than an instrument in the hands of our Heavenly Father, who wanted one of His precious daughters to know how much He loves her. It humbled me to the core. I cried the whole way home that night and I have cried every time that I have thought about it since. (Yes, currently crying like a baby here in the library). I feel so humbled to be here and so humbled to have this opportunity.”

Whether in big or small ways, we can be an instrument in God’s hands…

But first we have to prove we are willing to do it…

In the letter to prospective missionaries (dated June 4, 2018), Sister Brooks wrote (remember she wrote this before the experience on the bridge):

“There is something so exciting yet terrifying about turning your will over to the Lord...

You will… see lives change through the gospel of Jesus Christ, including your own.

Yes, it is hard. Yes, you will feel sad and stressed and homesick and get in fights with your companions. Yes, you will get angry when the investigator you've been teaching for 4 months says they don't want to be baptized. Yes, you will have doors slammed in your face and mean things yelled at you while you walk down the street. And yes, you will probably have a breakdown or five. 

Missions aren't easy!

But somehow, through it all, you will never feel happier.

You will never get tired of hearing someone say, "yeah, I actually have wondered what happens after we die", or "yeah, I have wondered how there are so many churches and which one is true."

You will never tire of feeling the spirit testify through you, as you hear yourself say words that you didn't know would come out of your mouth.

You will never tire of seeing the chills on people's arms as you recite the First Vision, or hearing someone say, "I feel peace" when you ask them how they feel during a lesson.

You will never tire of seeing someone you've prayed and fasted for, walk in the doors of the church.

You will never tire of seeing someone you've come to love thank you for helping them find the truth.

You will never tire of seeing tears stream down someone’s face as you showed up right when they needed you.

You will never tire of helping random strangers.

You will honestly never feel happier than you will while serving the Lord and your brothers and sisters. Let them change you and let them teach you, because you will be led to them for a reason.

I didn't know that happy tears were a thing until I came to the mission field. I didn't know how much the Savior loves us, until I felt that pure love radiate through me for someone else.

I didn't know what it felt like to experience real joy, until I felt it in my heart and saw it grow within the hearts of those I have taught.

I didn't know how enabling the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ really is, until I testified of it with all of my being to someone who felt they had no hope left in this life.

I didn't know of the power of the Book of Mormon, until I saw it change someone's life and family.

I didn't know that the remission of sins was so real, until I saw someone I loved, dressed in white, come out of the waters of baptism with a smile on their face while saying, "I've never felt so clean."

I didn't know how simply God hears and answers prayers, until I saw someone humbly kneel and receive an answer that this is the true church.

I didn't know that I could care so much for the salvation of others, until I met people that chose NOT to be saved.

I thought I knew how true this gospel was before I came here, but I didn't know just how much until I saw people learn it for themselves. 

…You represent the Savior and His message. Allow yourself to be an instrument in His hands.

He knows what you are capable of and He knows how strong you really are.” 

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As a mission mom, I am grateful to have children that help me learn about submitting to Father’s will…

“I delight to do thy will, O my God…” (Old Testament, Psalms 40:8)

They also teach me about being “instruments in the hands of God in bringing many… to the knowledge of their Redeemer.” (Book of Mormon, Mosiah 27:36)

I’m so very grateful for a Father in Heaven who takes good care of us...
and for our elder brother, Jesus Christ, Our Savior and Redeemer.

And I'm grateful to be the Mom of a Missionary.

Love, Teresa (Sister Brooks’ Mom)