Nov. 9, 2015

Hello Homosapiens! 

     Some of you may be wondering why I used such a strange word for human it’s because the elders in our district challenge us each week to use weird words and that was one of them so crossed that off the to do list! One of the words was diastema- shout out to dad because Iactually knew what that meant and everyone was impressed! 

This just in: 

We got approved to have a building in Westerly! Yay! We went to the town council meeting on Wednesday it started at 7 and ended at 10! We had to leave early and the whole time they were discussing our case! It was insane. This guy from the bowling alley was the only one objecting because he was worried about parking- like who goes bowling on a Sunday morning ugh! He was also worried about his precious liquor license so dumb but hey it’s all good cause we are finally getting a building! They have been trying for so long! It is going to take like 3 months for it to be ready but it’s going to be so cool I hope I am still here for that first Sunday! We even made the front page of the newspaper and they talked all about it at stake conference this weekend it was a big deal! 

That brings me to my next topic stake conference- it was super good and fun we gave some elders in our district these ugly ties we had in our apartment as a thank you for driving us somewhere and they wanted to get us back cause we made them wear them so they gave us "ugly" scarves which were actually really cute and we got lots of compliments on them so we all wore them stake conference and took a pic- the things missionaries do to keep things interesting. ha-ha

So at stake conference they talked all about the importance of keeping the Sabbath holy- it made me a little homesick because I miss being home with family on Sundays and relaxing but instead we get to tract.. Super fun.... in the cold.. with mean new Englanders... but I really want to get good at tracting cause its hard here so I’m working on it and practice makes perfect so ya.. gonna keep trying. 

They also spoke on importance of church auxiliaries and how they support the branch or ward I never realized how much effort a ward or branch is until I was a missionary because we have the unique opportunity to be in a small branch we are really involved in the lives of our members especially because almost all of them are converts, but it’s really good because they love missionaries and they feed us which we love! So our branch is doing a 40 day fast on behalf of our building and growing the branch so the branch council and missionaries fast every Sunday aka every Sunday I have been here because they started this after a fast Sunday.. so it has been good we have extra time for studies because we don’t eat breakfast (100% sarcasm). Anyway we had a dinner scheduled for this Sunday and we were all excited but 2 hours before they cancelled!! Ugh! and we had no food in our apartment either and we couldn’t go buy something because hello its Sunday and we just had a lesson on keeping the Sabbath.. anyway so we ate broccoli we had in our freezer and some quinoa... yum nothing says Sunday dinner like broccoli and quinoa after you have been fasting all day. It was kind of funny but mostly not. Then we wake up and we are excited because its pday and we are going to the store (Aldi’s) to get some food and we get a call from the lady in charge of the 40 day fast and she asked us to fast today... our pday because whoever signed up didn’t want to... and she was so worried that the 40 day fast would be broken so we agreed to fast today and sister Williams has been sick so i told her she didn’t have to fast because she needed to take some medicine so basically I am the only one fasting which is kind of rough... then the elders we email with ordered pizza... so this has just been a stellar day so far but really it’s just humbling me I know it. And hey I really shouldn’t complain because all the fasting and prayers paid off we got our building and a new investigator and less actives are coming again! So hurray for fasting   

Also, I just read over that and please don’t think that we starve because we have no food in our apt we just don’t usually need a lot because members feed us and it was the end of the week :) ha-ha

This day should get better because we are going to have dinner at a member’s home and he teaches us to box so it’s super fun! We went boxing with him last Monday and i was so sore it was so nice to be sore boxing is an intense workout!   

Also i heard Claire just signed with FRESNO!!!!!! That is WICKED awesome! I am so excited for her! Congratulations! 

Okay key principle for the week: 

I am reading in the book of Alma and I just love it like really all the stories are just so good! One scripture that I read that I wanted to share with you is 

Alma 26:2-3 read it

 We are all instruments in the Lord’s hands not just missionaries and we are so blessed to have the gospel we need to always keep that in mind especially when we share the gospel because if we do we will be sharing it out of love and concern for our fellow brothers and sisters.

Alright well that’s a wrap love you all! Be good and spread sunshine!

Xoxo

Sister Brooks