E-mail (Dated: 8/25/2014)

Hi!!!

So to start off, shout out to my home girl ROSE!! She leaves this week for her MISSION!! Rose i love you!!! So proud and excited for you!!! 

So this week we had a huge multizone conference. And the zone from Iguala came (its an hour and a half bus ride) so they got to stay the night here with our zone. And guess who got to stay with me in my house.... Hermana STURT!!!!! (My best friend from the MTC) I about died when I saw her!! What a HUGE tender mercie for me to be able to see her and have her stay the night with me!! Ahh I missed her so much! Heavenly Father reminded me that he is watching over me. The conference was so amazing. The spirit always teaches me SO much. And Im always so grateful for the opportunity to learn and to hear from all my leaders! 

One thing i am working on this week is the Christlike attribute- Charity and Love- I am going to pray every day with the energy of my heart to be able to be blessed with this gift. I want to be able to feel the pure love that Christ has for EVERY single person I come in contact with. I know this will help and bless me in so many ways!!

The family Calderon (Daughter is America who has Downs) is so special. We watched the 20 min. video of the Restuaration with them and the spirit was so sweet. The mom is such a believer and has so much faith! They are continuing to soak up all the lessons! I feel so blessed to be able to be a part of their conversion.

So one thing that our area is struggling with is church attendence. We pass by for multiple investigators before church and something ALWAYS comes up. Satan does ALL he can to put something in the way of church! And most the time he puts something good in the way... but church is the best thing!! 

I am enjoying the work here in Chilpo! There are some really great people here! The weather is great- It has been raining like every day!! We hike through the mud (: My comp is good... were struggling a little bit but its all good! SO much miscommunication with the language... My Spanish is continually improving.. little by little! It will come eventually! Heavenly Father is teaching me a lot of patience haha (: But everything is great! I have faith that some miracles are around the corner for us! Changes arenext monday but I will most likely stay here with Hermana Canaan!

Okay Scripture of the week:

Hermana Kusch (Presidents wife) shared this scripture with us at the confrence- Its in Mormon 5:23 "Know ye not that ye are in the hands of the Lord? Know ye not that he hath all power?" It was such a great reminder for me that Heavenly Father is right by our side and wants the best for us. All of us truely are in his hands!

I love you all so much! Have such a great week!

LES AMO!!! 

Your Brookie Cookie

Fun Fact of the week: We got serenated by drunks last night hahaha. And the guy was actually really good at the guitar!!

E-mail (Dated: 8/18/2014)

I am loving Chilpancingo! The people here are so amazing! Hermana Canaan is such a sweetheart too! Haha she doesnt speak ANY english.. and not gonna lie I dont know what shes saying like 30 percent of the time haha! I am so excited to work here though! Its amazing to see the Lords hand in my life. He is so willing to help us-especially when we ask. My testimony on the power of prayer has grown so much here on the mission. Im so grateful for all the lessons im able to learn here in this special time. I will be eternally grateful for my mission!!

So this week was full of crazy stories! First off, when I took my first shower, the whole nob flew off and starting spraying water at me! Aparently the shower is broken and my comp didnt tell me! Sooo I get to shower in a bucket again (: We also ate the same meal this week, literally for 3 days in a row! Taquitos for daysss! And one day when we were eating with a member, lightning landed 5 houses away from us! Ive never experienced anything like it-it was crazy! Everything shook and it was so bright and loud! And craziest story happened last night..  we were late to an appointment, so my comp said lets try to take a shortcut! So we crossed a tiny bridge and started hiking up this tiny pathway (pretty much in the forest) And all the sudden a tiny little dog starts barking at me ( I was first) and almost bites us! So we turned around but by this time, other dogs had come to see what was going on. Above us (up the hill) were 2 big dogs, and on the other side of us were probably the scariest dogs ive ever seen in my life. Their teeth were huge. They were pretty much wolves and yes I felt like Bell in the forest! We were completly surrounded by dogs. I completely just anticipated the bites and to be tackled to the ground to be eaten. My comp screamed and I looked up to the Heavens and said "Heavenly Father please help us"  And exactely right after I said those words, A little boy came from the top of the hill and scared the dogs away with his little lighter (Dont know how it worked but it did!) He was literally our saving angel! We ran up the rest of the hill, and he said "Are you bitten?" And we said No were okay! And he said "Those dogs ALWAYS bite whoever comes up that path..." It was a pure miracle that we got out safe! I know there were angels protecting us. There is no other way we would have made it out safely!

But back to the important stuff- We found a very special family this week! They have a daughter named America that has downs, and every member of the family is so so tender. They all accepted baptismal dates (Mom, Dad, and the Nanny), and are so receptive to the lessons! They just soak up every word! The mom is pregnant again too! This gospel is going to change their lives! I cant wait for the day when they can be sealed as a family!

Also an entire family came with us one day for an hour and a half to give us references! It was incredible! Its so so amazing to have the help of the members. Missionary work really is for EVERY member! We are all in this together! I want to challenge you guys to help someone come closer to Christ. Pray and ask Heavenly Father who you can help and what you can do to help this person and I promise he will answer you. He WILL put someone in your mind! Everyone can come closer to Christ. And I promise as you do this, you will find so much more joy and will be SO blessed!

My scripture of the week is D & C 112:13
"And after their temptations and much tribulation, behold, I, the Lord, will feel after them, and if they harden not thir hearts, and stiffen not their necks against me, they shall be converted, and I will heal them. "

Con mucho amor,
Your Brookie Cookie (:
LES AMO!!
And ps to all yall who started school this week... Have fun (;

E-mail (Dated: 8/11/2014)

Hey my loved ones! Wow so much has happened in the last couple days...

First off I LEFT YAUTEPEC, Cuautla. I am now in CHILPANCHINGO, GUERRERO!!! I left the state of Moreles (So im now closer to the ocean if that helps you guys haha)! We had emergency transfers because of an incident that happened to me. But no worries ALL IS GOOD! I am fine and healthy! A little shaken up, but its all good (: I know I have angels protecting me. My new companion is Hermana Canaan! She is from Puebla Mexico! She has 4 months in the mission and she is so fun! She only has 3 weeks in this area, so we will be doing a lot of exploring! How fun right!? Were excited!

But back in Yautepec we had such a beautiful week! We found such an amazing woman named MariaLouisa (mom of a contact in the street). She accepted a baptism date and she told us that she knew that what we were teaching was true! She told us that she didnt let other preachers in her house before! The spirit guided the lesson so beautifully! I was also able to talk more spanish! It was incredible. I know she will be baptized soon by the other Missionaries!

We also had such a beautiful baptism!! His name is Arturo and his parents were just baptized about 4 weeks ago! His dad was actually able to baptize him too!! He received the Aaronic Priesthood this past week! Ahh soo soo tender! I've never seen anyone so happy! He literally just glowed and had the biggest smile on his face when he walked out of the waters of his baptism. It was so tender to see how happy his whole family was. They all have the goal of the temple in mind and look forward to being sealed in one year from now!!! I was so grateful to be apart of that beautiful moment.

I was also able to see some of my old investigators from Chapultepec yesterday!! They surprised me came to my ward! Ahh it was so amazing to see them!! I love the people of Chapultepec! And it was incredible to see their progress in the Church. You can literally see a difference in them! I am so grateful for this gospel and for this opportunity to share this happiness with others!

I am so excited to start working here in Chilpanchingo! I am always grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow. I love you all! Hope you are all doing well!!

Con MUCHO amor,
Brookie Cookie (:
Ps my new comp is the one with the orange skirt in this pic! (:

E-mail (Dated: 8/4/2014)

Can you believe that I will see you all in one year from yesterday!!? And tomorrow is my official 6 months on the mission! How crazy is time?!

Well this has been a week full of ups and downs. One of our investigators Farriol (73 yrs old), decided he didn't want to be baptized and to stop taking our lessons. His baptism was for next weekend :( It was devastating. We found out he has an problem with cigarettes, and we had to push his baptismal date back. When we told him this, it was like a different person came out in him. I've never seen Satan get a hold of someone so fast. In one second the lesson was going great, and the next he was giving his pamphlets and the Book of Mormon back to us and then grabbed a cigarette to smoke in front of us. We were devastated. We had a less active member with us who is very good friends with Farriol, and we all just started crying. I don't know how to explain how it was... I felt so devastated that he was turning away from his Savior. It broke my heart.

But on the bright side, yesterday we had such an amazing experience! We had a first lesson with a woman named Anabel. And I can honestly say I've never been in a more powerful first lesson in my entire lesson. The spirit was SO strong! And it was so so incredible! Hermana Carmona shared a scripture about the Holy Ghost- in Galatians 5:22-23 (Talks about the fruits of the Spirit) And after I asked Anabel if she could feel any of those fruits right now. And she started crying and said ¨Yes! I can feel ALL of them!¨Ah it was so so incredible. I am so grateful for the companionship of the Holy Ghost. Because without it, I would be useless here. I know it is ONLY through the Holy Ghost that these people can know and feel the truth of this beautiful message!

Our area is slowly growing. We are trying our best. Hermana Carmona is incredible and teaching me SO much! I feel so blessed to be her companion and to be able to learn from her! My Spanish is still really rough. I'm actually still really frustrated with it. But having a Latin companion is helping me so much!
I love you all so so much! Miss and pray for all of you everyday! Have such an incredible week!
Con mucho amor, Brookie Cookie

PS: I am not aloud to chat back and forth one I get on to talk to you guys :( I can send one email to each of you personally but after that I have to wait till the next week to reply again. Hard I know, but its from the Lord, so it must be for our good. Oh and I can't figure out how to send pics on this computer this week sorry! LOVE YOU!