Thanks for the Support!

Good Morning!

Wow, I have the greatest family and friends in the world! I feel like I am the one that everyone is trying to comfort and here I felt bad that I wasn't there to comfort Mom and Dad! Thank you for the emails and pictures! I love you all so much! It was good to talk to you all again but I am asking please let's have that be the last phone call!!! No more hitting your head on the trunk of the car, choking on milk, I don't know what else but please just be careful!

Mom, I love you! I am thankful for your positive attitude through all of this because it helps me see that it may not be as bad as I think. I keep reminding myself that I am a drama queen, so whatever I think it is, it is about 100 times better! I hope that everything goes well for you this week at the doctors and I will be praying and fasting for you to be able to have a clear prompting on what decision will be the very best!

Dad, YES I GOT THE CARD FROM MADDY!!!! I told you guys on the phone but I guess you weren't on at that moment and I think it got lost in everything. But yes I have the card. I haven't tried it yet but the paper work said that it is ready to use right now. I just need to register it online, but to be honest I don't trust these computers so I will either wait until I get to the office or if you tell me what you need to register it I can send it. I am glad that everything is looking up there and thanks for sharing your love for mom with me.

Brynn, I am actually thinking about maybe running a race when I get home but I will need a lot of time to train. I am a lazy butt when it comes to morning exercise. I exercise but not enough to work off all of the candy we eat. Let's make a deal with all of us to pick it up and leave the candy behind! Deal! I actually just remembered the "Brown Chicken Brown cow" joke last week and I told all of the missionaries that we were with. They laughed as hard as I did! I wonder if that is a sign that we are all just weird or if that joke really is that funny.

Chase and Ashley, thanks for the email. I will try and send something to Britney next week. I am running out of time here. I can't believe that you have been married for a year! Man time flies! Keep me updated on your lives and how everything is going! I am super excited for you guys to get to Boston! I know it will be hard to be away from everyone but you will meet some of the most amazing people there! You guys just attract fun good people!

So these last few days have been a little tougher but I have seen some of the most amazing miracles. This week started out really tough because almost everyone canceled on us. We met with Ludmilla, the lady that got baptized last week and she was just the happiest I have ever since her. I think that was the turning point. We also met with another one of our investigators who was planning on getting baptized in 2 weeks and everything seemed to be on track. Our week was starting to look up. On Saturday we had a Missionary ward activity where we tried to help the members overcome their fear of sharing what they love with those around them. We did the trust fall and a lot of the older men and women in the ward got up and fell like a champ! We then took the members out on splits with us to contact in Kiev. The streets were pretty empty but we had some really great contacts! I think they really liked it. A lot of people didn't come but I think that those that did come really felt that it isn't as hard as they think!

Then when we got in on Saturday I saw "private number" on my phone and I almost considered not answering it... but then when I heard Mom's voice on the phone my first thought was "she really shouldn't have left the number on the cupboard... wait I never gave them this number!!" It wasn't my favorite thing to hear but I was happy to hear all of your voices. After our conversation I couldn't really sleep and I was having a hard time controlling my thoughts so I started reading the Book of Mormon. I don't do this very often but since I am right now in the ward chapters of 3 Nephi I decided to open to a random page. It was the story of when Jesus healed the blind man, then I did it again and it was the story of King Naaman. I thought, man this is pretty cool so I continued to open randomly to different parts of the scriptures, every time was the same, a story of someone being healed by their faith and the power of the priesthood! I felt right then a comforting feeling that everything is going to be okay. I know it might be hard but I have never been so grateful to know what no matter what the outcome is and no matter if we have 40 or 10 years all together we will some day sit at the Savior's feet all together! Isn't that a great thought!

I also read a story that President Mckay told about a little girl. A little blind girl was sitting on her father's lap. He had become tired from travelling a long ways and a friend asked if he could hold the child. The man took the child into his arms and the father asked the girl if she knew who was holding her. The girl answered, "No, but I know that you do." Heavenly Father knows and even though we can't seen what this entire process is going to be like I have faith that He knows and He will help us!

Yesterday was a blessing. The elders gave me a blessing of strength and they said that everything will be okay! There were a few tear jerking moments, like when we sang "Love at Home" (I think that is the first time I have sung that song on my mission and of course it had to be the day that my heart was so tender! I kinda just had to laugh at myself!) We also met with a lady that really wants to be baptized! It was our first meeting with her and she said that she loves the feeling at church, when she reads the liahona and when she sees us. She asked who she needs to talk to in order to be baptized. I smiled at her, broke down crying and we set a date for her to be baptized on the 31 of July! I bet she was a little scared but I couldn't help it! I was happy that she would soon have the knowledge that I have and hold so dearly!

Well, last of all I wanted to inform you that our baptism that should be in 2 weeks has moved up to this Saturday and now we have the task of finding a jumpsuit that would fit a grandma about 1/3 the size of me! We are going to the totally opposite side of the spectrum! I will let you know what it all turns out next week. It should be fairly interesting!

Well I love you all! I pray for you all daily! My testimony in the Plan of Salvation has grown so much on my mission and I KNOW with my whole heart that this Gospel truly is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it is the Gospel of Good News because even when you get bad news your heart can rejoice because of the knowledge that Christ has enabled us to receive the highest blessings! I love you all and I wish you the best this week!

Love,
Brooke