Dec.4, 2017 ~ But we see Jesus..the CAPTAIN of their salvation. (Week 21)

Hi Family and Friends!

I am so grateful for the letters and packages
I have received this Christmas Season!
Thank you to all of you!

And thank you for every person on the Rich side of the family who colored an ornament and wrote a note for my tree. I literally teared up as I read all of them. I hope you know how grateful I am for all of you! You mean the world to me. ❤❤❤❤


And now I have the flipping cutest Christmas tree there ever was 😊.

President keeps teasing Hermana C and I because our 3 most-progressing investigators are:

1. A man from India (We Skype him. He bought a Book of Mormon on Amazon and messaged us on Facebook to help him understand it.)

2. A woman we were teaching in my previous area who didn’t like the idea of being taught by different missionaries, so she drives and hour and a half every week for us to teach her

3. And a woman right outside of our area who we got special permission to teach. President said we are in this area to teach the people here... Haha… I promise we will get there ;) 

Today was the FUNNEST (that’s a word now) P-Day. We went to the mission office and played basketball for literally 4 hours nonstop. I was in heaven. It was so so fun! There is now a bet going around the mission that was started by President... He said that anyone who beats me in Horse gets 10 bucks. So far no one has earned ANY money… (Teresa’s Note: Not even President) ;) Haha so fun. I love being so close to the mission home and office because I get to see President and his wife and the rest of our zone all the time! I was so happy playing… still am. It made me remember why I played the game for so many years of my life! 

I think Heavenly father knew how much I have missed basketball, because he not only transferred me here to this area, but also, ironically this week, all of my studies seemed to be centered around the game!  Maybe it's because I have started playing every week in my new area, and I have been reminded why I love the game so much... OR maybe it's because Heavenly Father knows how to get me to learn something... but either way, I'm not mad about it! :)

My love of basketball started early in life….

(Age 9)

I played on my first competitive basketball team in 2nd grade. There was a group of girls from my hometown that our coach had scouted from Jr. Jazz. And we started practicing once a week at the local church. At first, I cared more about my light up shoes than I did about the actual game... but that quickly faded and I fell in love with the sport, the rules, and the competitiveness that coursed through my veins as I played. 

                (I'm on the front, 2nd from the right. Age 9)

All through Elementary, Middle, and High school, this original team of 7 year-olds stuck together.

 

We were close on and off the court;

                     (I'm on the left.)

we literally did everything together.

                         

Back Row-3rd from Left

During high School, we played the season with our school team and during the high school off-season, as a competition team. We had a few different coaches over the years, and a few players came and went... but what always remained was UNITY and LOVE and SUPPORT FOR ONE ANOTHER.

We were more than just an "in the gym" kind of team. We had each others' backs on and off the court; this provided us with much comfort and unity during trials and tough losses.

                       (I'm right in the middle :)

For those who are familiar with any sort of competition, it’s no secret that rivals become rivals because they are generally the toughest, closest, and most heated of competitions. Over the years, our rivals changed from the "Trappers", to Desert Hills, to Juan Diego, and other teams at different tournaments in-between...  there is just a certain feeling of dedication and unity when every person on the team thrives over playing the tough competition.

However, preparation is always necessary. I remember very few days from my childhood where I didn’t touch a basketball. I knew individual practice was important, but that I was nothing without my team; individual strengths attained through practice add to the team strengths. We knew that consistent and persistent practice leads to a consistent and persistent team… and we practiced. A lot. We watched film (of ourselves and of the opposition), we did team building exercises (trust off the court leads to trust on the court), and we prepared our bodies by fueling ourselves with the proper food and nutrients to make us strong and healthy. So much work goes into building a functional team in order for all individuals to perform at their optimal level as a whole unit (BIG thank you to my amazing coaches who realized this.).

Over the years we played over a thousand basketball games (I originally wrote hundreds, but now, as I think about it, I don't think it's an exaggeration at all to assume we played over a thousand games during the 11 years that we played together). I knew with all of my heart that I could rely on my team in any situation. It was a mutual effort where everyone worked their very hardest, and also gave a little extra when a teammate's hardest might fall short. We knew that if someone was having an off game offensively, they would work their hardest defensively and everyone else would step up to pick up the offensive slack. We could rely on our teammates; we understood the importance of working our hardest; we knew that winning was a team effort; and we had a mutual disgust for losing. 

The gospel of Jesus Christ is much like basketball in a few ways…

The first, being the importance of playing tough competition.

When we scheduled our games, we did our best to play the hardest teams we knew. I remember being pointed and laughed at as my little, high school team from Smalltown, Utah, walked into a Nike invitational tournament in California. People thought we were incapable of playing with the "Big Dogs". It was because of their underestimation of our abilities, and our overestimation of our confidence in each other, that allowed us to finish the tournament (and others) ahead of those teams and coaches that pointed and laughed. I will admit that we didn't win every game (is there anyone who ever has?), but I know that our tough competition is what made us better.

Front Row-Middle

Games we won, we won because we worked hard. Games we lost, we learned from and used as preparation for our next game. Such it is with life…

Strong timber doesn't grow with ease. Tough competition is necessary to make us better; adversity, trials, heartache and a few tough losses keeps us humble and prepares us for our next competition. If life were always easy, we would never grow. (Ask my dad to tell you the children’s/parenting story he wrote entitled "Effarig"…that’s giraffe spelled backwards 😊). 

Second, Jesus Christ is always on the winning team. He is the teammate who picks up our slack when that tough competition gets in our head. He is the teammate who knows our strengths and weaknesses and encourages us accordingly.

He is the team captain;

He always leads by example. He prepares his team with practice, exercises, and asks us to fuel ourselves with those things that will be to our benefit. He encourages us to do our parts individually, to strengthen the team as a whole.

And the coolest part?... He knows the score from the beginning, and He knows that His team will always be the best. However, that doesn't mean that he doesn't ask us to play some hard teams. 

“But we see Jesus… crowned with glory and honour…  For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the CAPTAIN of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one… I will put my trust in him.” (Hebrews 2: 9-13)

I’m grateful for Jesus Christ! And His Atonement and Gospel!

If you're not Lighting the World this Christmas Season,

JUST DO IT!

(See what I did there with the basketball theme?😉) 

I love you all! Please pray for Sophia to keep her baptismal date for the 17th of this month! 

Xoxo

Love,

Hermana Brooks