The Week After Thanksgiving

December 3, 2010

Hello! Well, it's probably a good thing that you're getting two emails this week since this past week hasn't been too exciting. Plus I just used up a fifth of my time getting the email from last week sent! :) Anyway, enjoy:

Well, since the last time I wrote we've taught twice in Portuguese! Last Friday we had a makeshift TRC and taught members of our own District. It was quite good. I really enjoyed it. In fact, I was actually feeling pretty confident about our Portuguese skills...until yesterday when we taught in the actual TRC. First of all, we had to go contact people in a store. We had three investigators who spoke very quickly and with Brazilian accents. And they wouldn't stop talking! This would have been great except I didn't understand anything they were saying! I think I did buy a nice saia preta and got some free guarda-chuvas. Anyway. Then when we actually “tried” to teach them the first lesson, we found out they didn't believe in God or Christ and one was Buddhist. Phoo. So we spent the whole time trying to explain why we believed in Christ. At one point I was trying to get across the need for the atonement and I said we were subject to both sickness and sin in this life. Well! The woman had told us she was a little sick so when I said "doenca," I pointed to her. So, then I said "pecado" and, without thinking, pointed to the man sitting next to her. That’s when we just started laughing. It was kind of a disaster, but pretty funny. Anyway. Just be happy I'm still here. :) I have a lot of work to do.

Okay. Outras coisas. We had a great Fireside from Bro. Allen, who spoke to us our first Sunday here. He spoke about replacing fear with faith, which is something I really need to work on. He also stressed the importance of loving and serving others. He quoted someone saying that for many of us, our greatest test and challenge in this life will just be learning how to love others. I know that is most definitely something I'm striving for. Along those lines, Irmão Owen gave a sweet lesson on Enoch and his people. We focused on how Enoch sees Christ weeping for the wicked. At first Enoch can't understand it, but we see that our Savior really does love all of His brothers and sisters and Heavenly Father loves all His children. It reminded me of when Christ says that the whole have no need of a physician, but the sick do. Christ did so much for us, but He truly atoned for our sins and He desperately wants each of us (sinners) to come unto Him. I love this gospel.

Sister Beck spoke at the Tuesday Devotional! They announced it while we were at choir practice and all the sisters started freaking out. Que vergonha. It was an awesome talk though. She shared a lot of experiences about when she was growing up in Brazil, since her dad was a mission president. She really focused on just how much she loves missionary work. She told a cute story about how they would 'play missionary' and go contact the missionaries in the mission home. She said her father had to put a stop to it when her brothers tried to baptize her two-year-old sister in the font. :)

At the Devotional we sang “O Love that Glorifies the Son.” It was beautiful. I think it's hymn #295 in English.

Oh! We started singing Christmas hymns! Hinos de Natal! I love it. Portuguese is awesome and it's so fun singing in Portuguese. Though if you take a dozen young men and women who don't sing so wonderfully to begin with and ask them to sing in a different language...well, let's just say we close our door when we sing. Jota-cao.

Um...I've actually been running! We're allowed to get up half an hour early and go to the gym, so I've been getting up and running a few miles on the square; 10 lap equals a mile track. Not the most fun I've ever had, but hopefully it will keep me from getting (too) fat.

Everyone thinks I'm obsessed with floss. I lost my 18-month supply of floss (I think it was stolen from me!) so I made a little sign, which I will probably be sending home to you, in order to find it. Anyway, it didn't show up. But the other day, Sister Thayer came in with a present for me: a little container of floss. It totally made my day. Maybe I am obsessed with floss.

I'm sorry to hear the cold season is in full swing. It happens about every three weeks here. Luckily I haven't been sick since my second week. But I still have a couple more weeks for round two to begin.

Speaking of only having a little over two weeks left in the MTC (!), I would suggest that any who love me, send me some letters. :) Especially since it's cheaper and easier now.

Oh. I've really started to be glad that we'll be "Sisters" in Cabo Verde because when our teachers use "Irma" for us, it totally throws me off, since, when said quickly, Irma sounds similar to Emma. And I always look to see if they're talking to me.

I think that's about it. I love this work. I know it is God's work, and we're going out to find and teach God's children about the truth and gospel of God's Son Jesus Christ. I know that if we do His work in His way, we cannot fail! I love that! I'm really trying to put all my faith and trust in Him. He's done it all before and I know I can succeed with His help.

I love you all so much! I'm so grateful for you! Have a fantastic week!

Geronimo!

-Sister Brooks

PS Also, the place where we like to study has four pictures of some of the Whites’ sons. Awesome! Sis. Laimana and I are determined to have a picture of us in Cape Verde up on those walls!

A Dia de Acao de Gracas

December 3, 2010

Ola!

Happy Thanksgiving! Well, I'm sure you're all dying to know how my Thanksgiving was, so I'll just start with that! It was AWESOME! It was really such a good day. Here's sort of how our schedule went: Breakfast, MDT, Morning Devotional, Lunch (Thanksgiving Dinner), Humanitarian Program, Dinner, Humanitarian Project and then a Fireside.

Are you excited? Because guess who spoke at the Morning Devotional! Elder Holland! It was so amazing. I love Elder Holland. And we had great seats. :) He started out by saying the Hollands are our family today. And it was really sweet. He had all his grandchildren and children there and their grandkids all got up and sang "I Know Heavenly Father Loves Me." It was SO cute! One little Holland got right up to the microphone so you could only hear his voice. Unfortunately, he started with the wrong words. It was so cute. Elder Holland also had four missionaries come up and bear their testimonies. I wish I could just have you all feel the spirit that was there. And then Elder Holland and Sister Holland spoke and it was incredible. Elder Holland spoke, of course, about gratitude and about the Savior and about missionary work. There were some strong words about being our very best because so many people are looking to us. He said if the Church had a 'symbol,' it would probably be a pair of missionaries knocking on a door or walking down the street. Anyway, I obviously don't have time to write everything he said, but you should definitely be jealous. :)

The humanitarian project was a lot of fun and I could tell they wanted to keep all the missionaries busy to avoid a bout of homesickness. It worked for me! We spent several hours putting together parts for schoolbags that will go to children around the world. Sis. Laimana and I won't be surprised if we see some of these same bags in Cape Verde.

Oh, and the food: pretty gross, but I guess nothing would compare to what I usually eat on Thanksgiving. I did have my annual slice of pumpkin pie, which was good (or as good as pumpkin pie gets -- haha).

All right, moving on:

Our district sang “E Tarde a Noite Logo Vem” in Sacrament meeting (“Abide with Me, Tis Eventide”) and we didn't sound half bad. And I'm glad that's over with.

On Friday night our companionship taught our progressive investigator, which was a little nerve-racking, but since that's what I'll be doing for the next 17 months, it was good to practice. We teach him in front of the whole class, which is probably why I got nervous. And it's just Irmão Matheson pretending to be someone he knows. Anyway.

I met my twin! Sister Brooks going to Brazil. Our tags are identical, so I stuck a sticker on the back of mine so we won't get them mixed up in gym. She's much more fashionable than me. Elder Gunter met another Elder Gunter and ran up to him, hugged him and said, "Brother! Mother told me I'd find you here!" I wasn't quite so outgoing when I finally met Sister Brooks. :)

We had a great MTC Fireside on Sunday and I'll just share one thing: A miracle is when, after you've done all that you can, God steps in a makes up the difference. I really liked that.

Per G. Malm of the Seventy was our speaker at the Tuesday Devotional and it was so good! He was really funny and he and his wife are both from Sweden. He started out by saying, "We come from Sveden, the land of Ikea!" It was awesome. And we sang an arrangement of “Come Thou Fount” in choir.

Cousins! Thank you so much for the letter! It was the best letter I've ever gotten!

Andy: I can't wait to hear about your call to Australia. :)

Matt: Dingo Babies!

Lisa & Stasia: Oh hesh! And: Voces ja estao casadas?

The other day in class, a couple Elders were late so they had to do a 'door contact.' Irmão Owen looked at me and said, "Sister Brooks. Do you want to take care of this one for me?" Basically, that meant I had to answer the door and be contacted -- in Portuguese. Yup. I'm practically a native Portuguese speaker now -- not!

We had a super cold, snowy temple walk last week. I'll send some sweet pictures some day.

There are at least three Elders here who I knew from Aspen Grove! It's a lot of fun seeing them around, though I've had to learn some of their last names and I hear my first name every once in awhile, which is bizarre after going, like, five weeks without hearing it.

Okay. Here's your assignment for the weekend: Go to LDS.org and watch the Mormon Message called “Lessons I Learned as a Boy” from President Hinckley. Maybe you've already seen it, but watch it. It's SO cute and it will make you cry. I feel like I've been crying a lot this week. :)

Oh, and a couple of my new favorite scriptures are Alma 29: 9-10.

We're teaching the first lesson in Portuguese tonight! Tenho medo. E estou animada.

Oh yeah. I broke my first glass in the cafeteria. Que vergonha!

Well, I think that's about it. I just wanted to take the last few minutes I have left on the computer to say how grateful I am for all of you! I'm grateful to have been raised in a good family with good friends. I'm so grateful for the restored gospel and that Joseph Smith asked Heavenly Father which Church was true and that his prayer was answered. I'm indescribably grateful for my Savior and His atoning sacrifice. I'm grateful that I know Heavenly Father loves me and ALL HIS CHILDREN! I'm grateful that I have this opportunity to serve a mission and that God knows where I'm most needed (and I'm grateful it's on a nice, warm group of islands). Ah! I'm so grateful for this life and this world! I hope all of us with the knowledge of the truth will do all that we know we should. This life is WAY too short not to act on the things we believe. I love you all!

Allons-y!

Sister Brooks/Sister Squeam

The Contact Contact

November 19, 2010

Hello! I don't have a cool Portuguese greeting today.

I hope everyone is doing well because I'm doing AWESOME-ly. That's a word, right?

Happy birthday, Amy! I'm pretty sure it's today.

And happy birthday, Callie, in a few days! (PS: I'm so jealous of all your adventures and travels and I can't wait to hear more. Thanks, Bro. & Sis. Eatough, for sending me her email!!)

I'm SO excited for my new (on his way) NEPHEW! I have to agree with Ellery that he should be named Harry Potter. However, I've still been crossing my fingers for a Cyrus. :)

Oh goodness. This has been an amazing week, but so have they all. Sister Cook for the Young Women general presidency (acho que) spoke in Relief Society on Sunday and it was really wonderful. But I would have to look at my notes to remember that far back. The MTC Fireside that night, though, was Brother Lusvardi and he gave a wonderful talk about how important love and charity is in our work. I feel like I learn that more each day, and it is so important. When we really love the people we serve, we know how much the gospel will bless their lives and we won't let a slammed door stop us from trying to serve and teach them.

In our Large Group Meeting this week, the teacher told us a story about a little girl he met on his mission, selling tortillas on the side of the road. He said they first noticed her because she was holding her giant tray of tortillas and just sobbing. He said his companion immediately pulled over and asked her what was wrong. She told them that if she didn't sell all her tortillas before it got dark (which it was fast becoming), her parents would beat her. Of course, they, without hesitation, pulled out their small amount of money and bought the rest of her tortillas. They watched as she hurried home, all her tortillas now sold. Afterwards, however, Elder Littlefield realized that if they had really loved her, they would have found out where she lived and taught her family the gospel. Imagine how much better her life would be if her father held the priesthood and she got to grow up knowing her Savior and Heavenly Father! We really are performing a labor of love for the people we will be teaching!

Also on Sunday, the sisters in our branch sang “Lead Kindly Light” (first verse in Portuguese, second in Italian and third in English) and I got to play the piano for sacrament meeting as well. It was awesome. Three of our sisters have left for the field, but this week we got FIVE more Brazil-bound sisters! We have almost fifteen sisters in our branch now! It's crazy.

In class this week we played this great game where Irmão Matheson read a scripture in Portuguese and we had to find it in English. Needless to say, Sister Laimana and I and Elder Gunter were basically the best team ever! Yes. It was a lot of fun. Cool story, right?

For the Tuesday Devotional we sang “Jesus Once of Humble Birth,” arranged by the very first MTC choir director...whose name I cannot remember. I especially liked it because it seems like a good song to begin the transition into Christmas hymns! The sisters in our district have been counting the days until we can sing Christmas songs in class -- the teachers and elders won't let us until after Thanksgiving. :) Which is in less than a week!! Happy Thanksgiving!

Guess who the Tuesday Devotional speaker was? President Monson!!

Okay. I'm just kidding. But we have faith he will come. :) It was actually Elder Kevin Pearson of the Seventy and it was an INTENSE talk. The talks are, like, forty minutes long, but his flew by. I have, like, three pages of notes. It was really, really great. He gave us several principles of power including such things as prayer and obedience. He also stressed the importance of knowing our divine identity. We are striving to truly be, in every sense, disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh. It was so powerful.

We also sang “To Bring the World His Truth” as one of the songs during that meeting. Look at the words and just imagine how it would feel to be one of 2,300 full-time missionaries singing that together. It was awesome.

Um...I had my first meal here where I actually ate everything on the plate. :) Some sort of chicken, noodle casserole. Just thought you should know I finally found something good to eat. Mostly I just fill up on chocolate milk every day. :)

I've already discovered my favorite Portuguese phrase, which I say about twenty times a day: Que vergonha. "How embarrassing." Thank you, Lisa. :)

We had a really great TRC experience this week and I really see how we're making progress. I love it. We've really been trying to speak as much Portuguese as possible, which is good since we have to give the entire first lesson in Portuguese next week.

I forgot to explain my [email] subject line last week [The Bird in the Cafeteria], though I'm sure it was self-explanatory: There was a bird living in the 'rafters' of the cafeteria for, like, eight days. It's probably dead now. :(

The other day we left dinner and one of Sis. Laimana's contacts fell out, so she put it on the tip of her tongue to keep it from drying out (must be a Hawaii thing – ha-ha) and of course a couple elders came up and wanted to contact us in Portuguese. It was just one of those really funny, indescribable situations where I started laughing really hard because we were being contacted while she had a contact in her mouth. The contact contact. Anyway, you probably had to be there. :)

Allons-y!

Sister Brooks

I'm not sure if that's spelled correctly. I asked a sister going to France, but who knows...

Over Three Weeks in the MTC

November 12, 2010

Subtitle: O Melhor Dia de Minha Missao (every day)

Ola!

Oh my goodness! I'm a missionary. And it's awesome! I can't believe I've been here for over three weeks! I love being in the MTC and learning and strengthening my testimony, but I also can't wait to be in Cape Verde and sharing that testimony with EVERYONE I meet!

I don't think I've told you much about our Branch. (Or I told you all about it in my last letter, because that sentence sounds familiar.) But it's the largest in the MTC and composed of both Portuguese and Italian-speaking missionaries. We have a lot of Brazil-bound missionaries waiting for visas. Our two roommates just got their reassignments, one to Spokane, WA and the other, who's already gone (!) to Houston, TX. It's pretty crazy that even what seems like a mistake (no visas) is actually just part of God's plan for us. I know that if these two sisters hadn't had visa problems, I would never have met them and my first weeks at the MTC would have been SO much harder. It's so wonderful to see all the ways Heavenly Father shows His love for us.

Okay, now to the good stuff. It was an incredible week! Zone Conference last Friday and Mission Conference on Sunday. Wow. Both were amazing. Then on Sunday night, for the MTC fireside, Sheri Dew was the speaker! It was really great though and we had front row seats. She spoke about how little time we really have on this earth and how we can't afford to waste it. She also told us never to forget who we really are -- sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us! It was really wonderful.

Fast Sundays are really awesome here. I love hearing testimonies from the missionaries in Portuguese and Italian! It's so sweet. Even though I understand very little still, the Spirit still testifies to me of the truth.

Okay. I know you're all excited to hear who the speaker was this Tuesday. Any guesses? No? Okay, I'll tell you. Elder Bednar! And his wife. What an incredible experience. Elder Bednar spoke about the doctrines of the gospel. The answer is always in the doctrine! You can come up with a million gimmicks and tricks to get someone to stop smoking (or do their home teaching), but until they understand the doctrine and then the principle behind it, they'll never gain a testimony of their own and have spiritual independence. We can't always be there to keep our investigators doing what we want them to do. They have to know the WHY of what we're asking them to do. It was such a great talk. I'm going to have all my notes printed and bound when I get home because I've learned so much here!

Also, we were part of the choir for the devotional (mostly because we wanted good seats). The song we sang though was sweet. It's called “Look at the World,” I think, by John Rutter. It was a lot of fun, though, and we'll probably keep going.

I hemmed one of my skirts this week. I felt pretty proud of myself.

This week we had another TRC visit. We picked up our "investigator" and took him to church and had to talk to him on the bus. It was really hard, but great practice. And our lesson on the Plan of Salvation went pretty well. Unfortunately, we forgot to ask him to be baptized and he said he totally would have accepted. It was awesome.

I got a letter from my two favorite cousins this week! Thanks, Lisa and Julia!

Well, I'm running out of things to say. I'm not sure if I repeat myself every week or if there are a tons of things I should be telling you and just forget.

We've started playing basketball with a few Hermanas who are awesome! It's a lot of fun. We also go to this early morning sister workout every day (they don't want us getting too fat) which is pretty cool. Though I'm not very coordinated and some of the fancy, aerobics steps are way beyond me. Yeah.

Well, I love you all! Keep doing what you need to be doing.

Geronimo!

Sister Brooks

The Church Is Near the McDonald's

November 5, 2010

Tudo bem?

Wow. I can't believe it's p-day again! The days literally fly by here. I never quite understood why people said a mission is over before you know it, but now I see. I love it here! Mom will be happy to know that I am never bored (and she's probably happy that she doesn't have to hear me say "I'm bored" twelve times a day)!

Well, I know you've all been waiting to hear who spoke to us on Tuesday this week. (Drum roll, please.) Elder Ballard! It was amazing and we had great seats -- though we almost got trampled by a herd of Elders. Elder Ballard spoke about becoming master communicators. It's crazy how every single lesson/talk/meeting seems to focus perfectly on our needs. That's the power of the Spirit! He told us that if we work diligently and treasure up the doctrine, we'll have confidence to be able to talk to everyone and will be able to become excellent teachers and communicators. I have some really great stuff written down, but not enough time to tell you about it! So, remind me in eighteen months and I'll show you my notes. One thing he did say was that "We're in this together," (Note the absence of the word “all” so as not to be confused with the “High School Musical” number.) referring to the fact that missionaries and general authorities [and members] are all working toward the same purpose: to invite others to come unto our Savior Jesus Christ.

Portugués is going well, I think. We've been hearing awesome stories about Portugal (and I have to remind myself that I'm not actually going to be serving there) because that's where both our teachers served. Also, as part of a lesson, we prepared a little contacting message and read it to the rest of the District. After I read mine Irmão M. asked if I'd studied Portuguese before I came! Am I bragging? NO! Because there is nothing that I can do save the Lord gives me the ability to do it. (But it did make me feel good.)

Also, we've memorized our purpose and the first vision (in Portuguese). I had the awesome/embarrassing opportunity to recite the first vision to the rest of the District. Afterwards for personal study, I read through JSH. I never remember just how awesome Joseph Smith's account is and the miracle that the Restoration is! Wow.

We do have our 'service hour' every week and it's a lot of fun. Ironically, whilst I was mopping the stairs, I broke the mop (and I hear one of my siblings has already set that precedent), but I fixed it. Cool story.

I'm not sure I've told you about our living arrangements. There are three bunk beds in our room and we have five sisters in there. I'm back on my top bunk! It's so great. Yes, it's too bad I don't have [cousin] Lisa on the bottom bunk anymore, but Sister Laimana is pretty much as cool as Lisa.

Speaking of Cape Verde, remember how I said I was never coming home? Well, I repeat: I AM NOT COMING HOME. The next time you see me, I hope to have progressed and changed and be way cooler than the Emma that left. So, no, I'm not coming home. But Sister Brooks will see you in 2012 and she is going to be sweet.

We had an incredible lesson on having faith in Jesus Christ. Irmão O. is always telling us that if we want to do everything God has asked us to do, it will be through faith. Many people believe in Christ, but do we BELIEVE Him? Do we believe that He will do what He has promised us? That the Atonement applies to us individually? We need to trust our Savior and believe that He has done all that He says He has.

My subject: A igreja fica perto do McDonald’s. We learned that sentence and an Elder said the Church purposely builds chapels next to McDonald’s so that missionaries can learn how to tell people where our church is located. One really dumb, gullible Sister said, "Really?!" Yeah...they don't really do that.

Funny story: There's a sign that says whether the missionary field is open or closed. The other day, after gym, we walked past it and instead of saying it was open, the OPEN had been covered with a sign that said WHITE, ALREADY TO HARVEST. The missionary field is white, already to harvest. Get it? Yeah, awesome!

Okay, that's all. I'm out of time. I love you all!

Geronimo!

Sister Brooks