Wednesday, December 28, 2016

December 26, 2016


 Merry Christmas everyone! 

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying this wonderful holiday time! 
I’m really grateful for this time of year when everyone is focusing on "the reason for the season" 

We had a good week we gave some Christmas cards to squirrels, saw some ducks, and got a little snow, we also got to go to the temple for zone conference it was so nice to be able to spend time in that peaceful setting. 

I’m grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ I'm grateful for its simplicity and how much strength it can give us to deal with anything we are struggling with. 

The message is simple the invitation is too, rely on Him that is the reason for the season, every season. 

Key Principle:
A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art: everything from Picasso to Raphael. When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father grieved deeply for his only son. 
About a month later, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands. He said, "Sir, you don't know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart. He died instantly. He often talked about you and your love for art."
The young man held out the package and said, "I know this isn't much. I'm not a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this." The father opened the package and gazed at a portrait of his son. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured his son in the painting. The father hung the portrait over his mantle. When visitors came to his home, he always drew attention to the portrait of his son before he showed them any other great works. 
When the father died, his paintings were to be auctioned. Many influential people gathered, excited about the opportunity to purchase them. On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel and asked for someone to start the bidding. The crowd scoffed and demanded the Van Goghs and the Rembrandts. But the auctioneer persisted. "Who will start the bidding? $200? $100?" The crowd again insisted on seeing the famous paintings. Still the auctioneer solicited, "The son! The son! Who'll take the son?"
Finally a voice said, "I'll give $10 for the painting." The longtime gardener of the father was poor and couldn't afford anything more. While the auctioneer continued to pursue a higher bid, the crowd became angry. The auctioneer pounded the gavel and sold the painting for $10 to the gardener.
An eager buyer from the second row bellowed, "Finally, on with the auction." But the auctioneer explained, "I'm sorry, the auction is over. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings. The man who took the son gets everything."
Love you all have a very merry Christmas! 

   XOXO
-Sister Sophie Brooks

19 Ackley Place #2 

Jamaica Plain MA 02130

Christmas Day December 25, 2016



Merry Christmas!  So happy that we got to Skype Sophie today for 40 minutes.  Of course the time went quickly but it was awesome to see her and hear her voice.  She looks great and is doing amazing things!  Love you Sophie!!

December 19, 2016

Merry Christmas everyone! 

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying this wonderful holiday time! 
I'm really grateful for this time of year when everyone is focusing on "the reason for the season" 

We had a good week we gave some christmas cards to squirrels, saw some ducks, and got a little snow, we also got to go to the temple for zone conference it was so nice to be able to spend time in that peaceful setting. 

I'm grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ I'm grateful for its simplicity and how much strength it can give us to deal with anything we are struggling with. 

The message is simple the invitation is too, rely on Him that is the reason for the season, every season. 

Love you all have a very merry christmas! 



     XOXO
-Sister Sophie Brooks

19 Ackley Place #2 
Jamaica Plain MA 02130







December 12, 2016

Hey everyone! 
This week was good and cold! 

This week consisted of lots of walking in the cold, lots of bundling up and lots of sharing christmas cheer. All in all it was a good week!

So we had missionary leadership council this week which was really fun i got to see some of my past companions and we heard from our mission president. We learned a lot about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how we can be better teachers. something that i really enjoyed learning from our training this week was about evaluating your motives we learned about how we can teach with more love, because if we do things out of love and true desire to help others, than they can tell and will want to become better.

This week we went out with a lady from church headquarters, she was here in the area doing a survey on missionaries and how their investigators receive what they teach. 
It was pretty stressful, because we were trying to do our best but we had lots of appointments fall through and it was just not turning out really well and she could only be with us for a certain amount of hours... anyway it didn't really go as planned... even though she said it was good. We felt bad because she didn't get as many lessons as she was hoping to observe so we called her a couple days later and invited her to another lesson and she said she could go! So we went to a lesson with one of kind of progressing investigators and it was a miracle! the lesson went really well and Karen, our investigator, actually read in the Book of Mormon on her own which she had never done before, and she understood everything we taught! It was just such a blessing and the church representative really loved it! 

Key Principle
You are doing better than you think.
Sometimes we may feel we aren't doing enough, or we aren't as good as others or we wish we would have done something differently, but we need to remember that if we are doing our best and relying on our Savior than we are doing better than we think we are. 
"In the work of salvation there is no room for criticism, comparison, or condemnation. May we choose a righteous cause as a valiant emissaries of our Lord, Jesus Christ."
-Carol F McKonkie 

     XOXO
-Sister Sophie Brooks

19 Ackley Place #2 
Jamaica Plain MA 02130


December 5, 2016

This week was good nothing too groundbreaking just trekking along we had a lot of people cancel appointments which is always hard, but that’s part of missionary work. 

We have been caroling with our zone every Monday night in the” “T” station which is so much fun! We even made it on the local news! 

So little miracle from this week, its been wicked rainy all week, so on Tuesday night sister Lewis and I were out all day in the pouring rain, my clothes got soaked through and we waited for a bus for 1/2 hour in the rain, I was cold, wet, tired and hungry and to top it off our last appointment that night cancelled after we got lost trying to find it. So we started home and as we were waiting for the bus this girl started talking to us, she told us she felt bad cause we were soaked then she asked us what our name tags meant and we explained we were missionaries, then she started asking questions about what we believe like what happens when we die, it was a real testimony builder that God puts us where we need to be when we need to be there, if we hadn't waited for that bus and if our appointment hadn't cancelled we would have never met this girl. 

Key Principle:
Lots of things fell through this week and when that happens its hard not to feel like a failure but I learned something important although we feel discouraged and we get impatient we are only human, we can only do so much, people have their agency and we can't do anything about that. The only thing we can control is our attitude and our reaction to the things that come our way. It’s part of life. 

Sister Brooks
19 Ackley Place #2
Jamaica Plain, Ma. 02130







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November, 28, 2016


 First week in Boston was a blast!!! 

Its a very different type of missionary work here fast pace but... it takes forever to get anywhere on public transportation so we don't get to as many appointments as I'm used to but, we are still able to get a lot done!

So i moved to my new area the day before thanksgiving, which was kind of hard, on thanksgiving we woke up cleaned out the apartment so my stuff could fit (its really small and we share it with the Spanish sister) then I unpacked and we went to thanksgiving dinner with the Carrs, who are a senior couple in the mission. They were really nice and the food was yummy, but it was tough not being with people that I knew on thanksgiving. 

Sister Samantha Lewis is my new companion and she is really awesome she is a hard worker and we get along really well. She is from Logan Utah. If she could be any animal it would be a fox and her favorite fruit is oranges and pomegranates and she is a straight hipster. 

So cool story from this week we got a media referral to drop off a bible to a Jamaican woman in Dorchester aka death Chester (don't worry mom) so anyway we go to drop it off and she let us in to share a message and then we invited her to church like we do with everyone... but plot twist she actually came! And she brought her son! And loved it! So that was pretty cool! 

The Boston ward is really cool, lots of young, smart people. We have a super solid ward mission leader who is helpful, involved and willing to come teach with us. 

Key Principle:
The Christmas season is upon us! Check out these ideas to serve this holiday season! 


-- 
     XOXO
-Sister Sophie Brooks

19 Ackley Place #2 
Jamaica Plain MA 02130




 

November 21, 2016

This week was wow... so great!!!! So last Monday we went to the Mark Twain house, it was really neat and educational he was actually a pretty funny/sort of weird guy.

We went tracting a lot this week and had a bunch of success and taught lots of people. Our area is finally picking up and every time that happens I get transferred... we found out on Friday that I am going to BOSTON! I will be in the Boston 1 ward. I am so excited... except its a walking area and so its going to be soo wicked cold.. but that’s okay because it is the one area I really wanted to serve and now i get to! Also my last companion sister Demuth will be coming here to Bloomfield and i am getting one of her old companions Sister Lewis! 

So Saturday we got to watch the cultural celebration and it was such a great performance and so fun to see all the youth from the different areas that I have served with, they worked so hard to prepare for it and they did a great job! 
Then on Sunday we were able to witness the dedication of the Hartford Connecticut temple. I feel so incredibly blessed to be in this mission in this area at this time and be able to participate and witness the dedication! It was so special. After the dedication we went to the actual temple and we were asked to remove all the chairs and put the furniture back in... But one of our favorite security guards who we got to know really well over the temple open house got us the in and we got to meet President Eyring and Elder Holland in the temple!!!!!! It was so cool!  
Such a fabulous week. 
Happy Thanksgiving! 

Key Principle:
Alma 26:2



     XOXO
-Sister Sophie Brooks

1204 Kristins Way 
Bloomfield Ct
06002