E-mail (Dated: 7/29/2014)

Hey my loved ones!

Not gonna lie, this was definitely one of the harder weeks in my mission. I don't know how, but literally EVERY set appointment we had, fell. This went on for FIVE DAYS! I have never had anything like this happen in my entire mission. Even some of the food appointments fell! I couldn't believe it! I still am not exactly sure what Heavenly Father was teaching us, but maybe it was to have more faith? We begged and pleaded for him to place his children in our path. We wanted to be useful tools in his hands. And finally, after some long hard days, he placed miracles in our path. It was like a huge wave of his love. He showed us that he is listening, but everything is according to HIS timing.

I want to tell you one of the miracles we saw Sunday morning at church. Fernando and Claudia just got baptized last week and they have a son named Arturo who is 13 and he didn't want to be baptized. But Sunday at church, they whispered over to us and said that when he woke up, he told them "I want to be baptized!" They just lit up when they told us! I was SO happy for them! His baptism should be here in just a couple weeks! They have a goal to go to the temple and be sealed as a family in one year! I know that it was the help of Angels and the Holy Ghost that prepared his heart. And I couldn't be more happy for Arturo!
We have the ball rolling again, and our area is doing better. We were able to put 3 people with a baptismal date just over Saturday and Sunday. I have high hopes for what is to come. The members welcomed me very warmly on Sunday and I am excited to strengthen this area!

Hermana Carmona is the sweetest thing ever! She has such a strong testimony and she is a great teacher. I have so much to learn from her! She also speaks a lot more English than I thought! She wants to be fluent so she told me that she just wants to speak English in the house, so of course I accepted (: My Spanish is improving, but it is still so rough. I feel like I should be fluent by now and well, I'm not. Its super frustrating. I just feel really behind on the Spanish part. Oh and we also got sick Thursday :( She had a super high fever and some stomach problems, and I have had the nastiest cold. It got to my ears... Lets just say it wasn't pretty. But we are both healthy and perfectly fine now so no worries!

Yautepec is probably the hottest place ever. The sun is crazy strong.. didn't know haha got a pretty sweet burn, Ill send a pic!

So my scripture for the week is D&C 121: 7-8 "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine affictions shall be but a small moment. And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes." This week I was hit hard with the realization that all of our trials really are for but a small moment. Our life here on this earth is SO short. And before we know it, our test here is gonna be over. If we can see the bigger picture during these times of heartache and hardship, we will be able to face them with more strength. I know that the trials that are placed in our path are for OUR benefit. They will strengthen us and help us grow in ways we never thought possible. And for that, I can thank my Heavenly Father for loving us enough to help us grow. He loves us with such an infinite love and he only wants us to reach our potential. He wants us to be able to return to live with him in eternal bliss.
I love you all so so much! Hope you have a fantastic week (: LES AMO!!!

Con mucho amor,
Your Brookie Cookie (:
Ps the pics- Fernelius and Neuberger are in my ZONE!!! SO happy!! The second pic is just a tiny street, its SO green here!! oh and Yautepec is like 12 times bigger than Chapultepec... yup its different!

E-mail (Dated: 7/21/2014)

okay first off- I GOT TRANSFERRED!!!! I am now in a little pueblo called Yautepec. My new companion is Hermana Carmona. Yes she is Latino and doesn't speak English. But she knows more English than I expected! Its hard, but Its gonna force me to learn Spanish haha. I'm excited to work here in Yautepec... There is a lot of work to do. Not gonna lie, it was super hard to leave all those people I had grown to love. I absolutely loved Chapultepec. The people there are very dear to my heart and I will never forget them. I am so grateful for the time I was able to have there. I have grown SO much here on my mission, and learned SO much! And I am excited to learn even more! Hermana Carmona is so sweet and I know she has so much to offer. I will learn so much from her! She actually reminds me of Alexandra (Rose Caldwell (: ) Yautepec is super super hot... super flat.. well its what you would expect Mexico to be like haha. Its very rural...Super different from my last beautiful area. Haha mom it reminds me of Manti! You prepared me well ;) Ahh I don't like change, but I know this is where the Lord needs me. There must be a reason im here!

So back in Chapultepec, on Saturday Hermana Young and I were able to have a baptism! Her name is Maria and she is so so great! I have never seen anyone so excited for their baptism. She was so excited to follow the example of Christ and to take the name of Christ upon her. It was so amazing to see her progress and desire to learn more. Her baptism was beautiful. The spirit was so strong and sweet.

We also had a very tender experience yesterday. We were walking to church and a taxista stopped us and tried to talk to us in English. He asked us where we were going. We told him we had no money but he said it wasn't important and to hop in free of charge. He told us in the car that he had lived in California some years ago and someone had given him a Book of Mormon. After the ride he ran to his trunk and pulled out his blue Book of Mormon, still in perfect condition. We were able to explain it more to him, and passed his directions to the other missionaries in Porvenir. It was so tender to see how the Lord guides his children to us, or guides us as missionaries to his other children. I am so grateful to be able to wear the name of Christ on my shoulder.

I love you all and you are always in my prayers! Have such a great week (: Les amo!

Con mucho amor,
Your brookie cookie (:

This is my sweet Relief Society in Chapultepec! aww i love them! And the next is my "mom" her in mexico. She loves frogs haha and this was her reaction when i gave her a frog as a goodbye gift!!

This is Hermana Young telling me i cant go haha. 

One of the families i love in chapultec!

E-mail (Dated: 7/14/2014)

Hey hey hey! (:

Okay first off I have to give a shout out to my sweetheart Elder Harmon!! HE OFFICIALLY HAS ONE YEAR LEFT TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Am I a little excited? Yup (: I love you Blake!!!

Okay so our area is growing so much! We had more menos activos show up to church yesterday than ever before! It was a huge miracle for us to see! Our ward is growing SO much! And I was shocked to see how amazing the members were with the menos activos! They completely made them feel welcome again! It was such a huge blessing. Mission work really is for EVERY member. And we need every members help! I didn't realize how important the work of the members was until I got here on my mission. And I am so grateful Heavenly Father has helped me learn that missionary work is not just for someone who has a nametag.

We also had another tender mercy with the Young Women President. She called us and asked us if we could talk to the Young Women and invite them to accompany us! So we happily accepted and when we got there, the girls were SO excited to come with us! They each wanted not only to come with us once, but multiple days! And so far in the lessons, they have been amazing! Their testimonies are so strong! And many of them have admitted that they want to serve missions! The Lord is preparing them now!! Paula (Recent Convert, 13, baptized a month 1/2 ago) said she wants to serve a mission!!! She told us she wants to come with us from 11am-8pm this next Saturday and teach people all day with us!! What a huge tender mercy for me to see her progress in the church. When I first met her she knew nothing about the church and was very hesitant about baptism... and now she wants to serve her own mission!!! It has been SO rewarding for me!
I love this work. It is so rewarding. The tender mercies, miracles and all the amazing experiences cancel out all the hard and rough times.

So I wanted to start doing a scripture of the week! The one for this week is the one I put on my mission plaque! D&C 4:3 "Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God, ye are called to the work." I love this! I know every single one of you wants to serve God. He is our Father in Heaven and he has given us so much. Now I know what y'all are thinking, and yes this applies to ALL of you. You do not have to be wearing a name tag to serve God! Look for the little ways to serve all those around you. Because when we are serving our brothers and sisters, we are serving our Father in Heaven! And how can we serve those around us? Well I know that if you ask the man upstairs how each of you can individually serve others, He WILL answer you. It's a promise.

Well I love all of you so so much! and i miss you! All is well here in Mexico (: Les amo!

Your Brookie Cookie
P.S. Its raining like crazy here!! it downpours! and the second pic is a Tomale! So stinking good. oh and our mission president changed the rule of being in the house from 9pm to 8pm at night! So were even more safe (: ADIOS!

E-mail (Dated: 7/7/2014)

Holaaa!

First off- HAPPY FORTH OF JULY! Me and Hermana Young missed celebrating the fourth of July! Obviously they don't do anything here in Mexico for the 4th of July haha. But we made the best out of it and celebrated with pancakes (in honor of our annual family bike ride to IHOP).

Second off- I HIT 5 MONTHS IN THE MISSION!!! Can you believe it? Its blowing my mind!
So not gonna lie it was a harder week for us. Hermana Young got sick first and Monday it hit me. It was hard to be stuck in the house all day and not see our investigators. We don't know what hit us, but it was ugly. Finally on Thursday we were able to jump back into the work! I missed it!

So I wanted to share a experience we had this week. Her name is Perla and she is an investigator. We walked to her house and when we got there, a Testigo was there (jehovas witness).. Perla invited us in and we sat down at her table. Before we knew it, the old lady was bashing on us, the Book of Mormon and our religion. She said the Bible is the only word of God. The spirit immediately testified to me that everything she was saying was SO FALSE! We left very quickly after she started, but what was cool to me was that our investigator Perla started backing us up. I know the spirit was testifying to Perla that the Book of Mormon really is ANOTHER testimony of Jesus Christ. The testigo wouldn't let us get in a word when we tried, but we left her saying that we knew the Book of Mormon was true. This was such a testimony builder to me. I've never got so defensive about the Book of Mormon in my life! I know it is true with ALL my heart. I know without a doubt it is the word of God. We have both the Bible and the Book of Mormon to guide us! And I will NEVER deny the truth that book holds.

I love you all so much! Know im praying for all of you. If any of you ever need ANYTHING, Im here for you(:

LES AMO!
-Brookie Cookie your missionary

P.S. funny story of the week: So we have 2 dogs outside our house cause we live with a member. And they would not stop barking. So Hermana Young thought it would be smart to throw them cookies... Later that day she told me about it and she had thrown them Chocolate cookies! She had no idea dogs couldn't eat chocolate! And we didn't see one of the dogs for 2 days so we had thought she killed the dog! hahaha so funny.

P.S.x2 this pic is from us on the fourth of July and the second is my 5th month mark!
P.S.x3 Samuel from our ward (25) got his mission call!!! He is going to Monterey Mexico and leaves Sep. 2nd!!! Ahhhh SO excited! it was crazy to see that white envelope again haha!