E-mail (Dated: 7/27/15)

Hola Hola Hola!!

Wow I dont even know where to start.. I guess ill just start telling you about the miracles we saw yesterday (:

About two weeks ago, me and my companion had a hard time finding new people to teach. We had been on our knees praying and praying, but it seemed that all our appointments with new investigators fell. We decided Saturday that we needed to do a fast, specifically asking for divine help to find these people who are waiting for this gospel. And yesterday, the blessings from our fast seemed endless!! First, we ended up having 7 investigators in the church, along with Iris(the less active were bringing back!)!! Its like the record for the area we are serving in cause the church is so far away.

But the miracles didnt stop there, after church we found 8 new investigators and 7 of them accepted a baptism date! (its a fam of 3, another family of 3, a man named Hipolito and a 20 year old girl!) It was INCREDIBLE!!! It was so tender for me to continue to see and experience these blessings in these last moments of my mission. Heavenly Father is so willing to bless us. And it seems that he always gives us so much more than we can hope for. I know that this is his work. And i am so grateful to be a part of it. It has been an amazing year and a half. Ill always treasure the lessons ive learned and the experiences ive had.

I wanted to share a scripture with you guys..

Its in 2 Timothy 4: 6-7 "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."
Just want you guys to know that I have given it my all in these last 18 months. I have given this work and these people my heart. And i have no regrets. I thank my Heavenly Father for giving me this sacred time.

I love being a missionary! But i know just cause I wont wear my nametag every day, doesnt mean im not a missionary. Ill continue in all these things ive learned! Also I am definately ready to see you guys!! Aw i cant wait. But just squint your eyes when you see me cuase i mean i have been in Mexico for a year and a half haha...

Love you guys!!! See you MONDAY!!!! (:
Con mucho amor,
HERMANA CHYNOWETH
¡LES AMO!

PS the pic.. If i could have favorites, theyd be my fav fam here in Alpuyeca

E-mail (Dated: 07/20/2015)

Hey fam!! <3

Okay so sorry again, I have no time to write.. I just got back from visiting my converts from my first area! I was able to say "see ya later" to Adraina, Adriana and Poala! They are so cute and i love them so much. It was so hard to say goodbye.

But great news- Our investigator Kenia finally walked into the waters of baptism. Her service was absolutely beautiful. It was yesterday after church! They whole room was filled! She had so much support and everything turned out beautiful! Me and my companion sang haha. We didnt sound the best, but were in Mexico so everyone thought it was beautiful (:

Also this past week we had our interviews with our new president! Him and his wife and son are so so special. The interviews were just pure love.

Me and my companion also gave talks on Sunday! It was weird.. I felt like i was giving my homecoming talk haha. But the best part was when I went to sit back down, I noticed that one of the less actives we have been visiting for 2 months now, was sitting in the audience!!! AW I cant explain how amazing it was to see her there! Her name is Iris and she is 20 years old also and hasnt been to church since she was 16. The whole ward afterwards welcomed her back and it almost brought me to tears. Afterwards she said "I think im gonna come back next week, no, I will come back next week!"

Ah such a tender experience.

Well sorry this is all so rushed! Ill explain it all better in person in exactly TWO weeks!! AHH so crazy! Cant wait to see you all!

I love you so much!!
Con muchísimo amor,
Hermana Chynoweth aka Brookie Cookie

E-mail (Dated: 07/13/2015)

Hey everyone!!

So sorry this will be the shorest email ever. We just got back from a place called "Las Grutas"! It was unbelievable! I will show you all pics when i get back (: But sorry if i dont reply to you all personally!

But all is good! We actually had a huge miracle yesterday and SIX investigators showed up to church.. they all just kept walking in and we couldnt believe it! Such a huge blessing for us after a harder week.

Jose is still alive.. he is in a coma :( The doctors say that he can stay like this up to three months. So that has been hard... I just wanna rip the bandaid off fast ya know? But i know that he is in the Lords hands and he has a purpose for all things.

I love you all so much! Have an amazing week! MWAH!! LES AMO!

Con muchoo amor,
Hermana Chynoweth aka Brookie Cookie (:

ps. Pics are from today in las grutas!

E-mail (Dated: 7/6/15)

Hey family...

Well Im not quite sure where to start... its been a rough past 24 hours. Yesterday, we were supposed to have the baptismal interview with Kenia, but she didnt show up. And on our way home we ran into some recent converts and they werent the nicest. But all of that is okay. The part that ripped my heart out was to get a telephone call from Hermana Neuberger last night telling me that my little Jose Salazar is in the Hospital and is dying..His lungs arnt functioning, and his heart is failing.

I talked with the Asistants last night and story short, I went to visit him this morning in Cuernavaca. I was actually able to see him for about 20 min. He wasnt consious, but I was able to say my goodbyes. They say that he was able to hear everything, he just couldnt respond. Ah i dont think Ive ever had my heart hurt so much on the mission. All I can say is that I am so grateful for the Plan of Salvation. If i didnt know that i would be able to see him again, I wouldnt be able to handle it. But Heavenly Father loves us so much that he will allow these tender relationships exist after this life. I am so grateful for Jose Salazar. He always said that I changed his life, but in all reality, he changed mine. He is so faithful- to the point where he didnt want to go to the hospital cuase he didnt want to miss the sacrament the next day in church. The ward helped out and took it to him though yesterday. He has had someone by his side ever since he entered the hospital.

He will be so so missed in this life. But like he always told me, I know he will welcome me into next life with open arms. I know he is ready to meet his Savior. He deserves it.

Well on the brighter side, I met my new mission President! His family is so so special and im grateful to be able to learn from them too! Ill attach a pic. (:

Everything will be okay. Im fine. Just didnt see this coming.

I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week!
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Chynoweth aka Brookie Cookie.

E-mail (Dated: 6/29/15)

Hola mis amores!

Wow it will be a big week for me! First off, Happy 4th of July!!  I hope you all have an amazing time celebrating our amazing country. Ill send pics next week of how i force my companion to celebrate with me haha (; Second, I will be completling SEVENTEEN months on the mission! Ahhh i cant believe ive made it this far haha. Its super exciting! One month left! And thrid, I will be meeting my new Mission President this Friday! We have a multizone conference. (Which means I will seeing lots of mission friends (: ) Soo youll get lots of pics next week! Sorry we havent taken many this week...
But this past week was okay. A little bit of a scare with our investigators Karmen and Jaime.. we thought they were going to drop US. Her sister is telling her that there cant be another book other than the Bible and satan is just attacking them a lot. They didnt come to church either yesterday. But we went over last night, and we found out they didnt come cause they are all sick with colds and diarriha... so were all good there. Just keep them in your prayers!

We also had a really cool experience with Kenia this past week. We taught her the law of chasity (Always such a fun one to teach haha) And it was actually my favorite lesson ive taught in my entire mission. I asked my companion if we could start out showing a picture of the Salt Lake Temple and start from there. So we did and without telling her what it was, we asked her what she felt when she looked at this picture. She said "Its beautiful... Its a place of peace... It makes me want to go there... Its like Heaven right?" And we just sat there almost in tears. Without knowing what this sacred place is, the spirit testified to her that it is a holy house of the Lord- that it really is Heaven here on earth. Ahhh it was so so amazing! I wish you guys could have been there. She is so amazing. Her baptism is still planned for the 10th of July, but we found out yesterday that she got a job... sooo please keep her in your prayers that it wont interfere with this proccess of hers!!

Well i love you all!! Thanks for everything! LES AMO!

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Chynoweth aka Brookie Cookie

Scrips of the week:
Philippians 4:11 "For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."
2 Cor. 12: 9-10 "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will i rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reporaches, in necessities, in persecutions in distresses for Christs sake. For when I am weak, then i am made strong."

E-mail (Dated: 6/22/15)

Hola Hola! Soo first off, FELIZ DÍA DE PAPA (Happy Fathers day)!!!

Dad i hope you felt all the love i was sending!! I loveeee youuu!!!!

Well this week has been interesting... Ive been hit with the double dragon :( Its been fun let me tell ya. So not much has happened. Kenia is doing very good though! She comes to church every sunday with her dad (: Her baptism is coming up in a couple weeks! So keep her in your prayers!
We had changes a couple days early, but there are no changes here with me and Hna Canales. Looks like I will be dying here in Alpuyeca and shell be killin me off! So thats exciting! It doesnt feel like Ive started my last change...

Also this is our last week with President Kusch :( We wil be getting another Presidente here very very soon! His name is Presidente Avila! And he is from here in Mexico. He and his wife and son will be coming. Im excited to learn from them, even if its just for 5 weeks!

I love you all! Hope you are having a fabulous summer (:

Scrip of the week:
D&C 24:8 "Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days."

LES AMO!!! Con muchooo amor,
Hermana Chynoweth aka Brookie Cookie

E-mail (Dated: 6/15/2015)

Hola mis amores!

How is everyone? I pray all is good (:. This past week was okay. Weve had a hard time finding new investigators to teach. But we know there are people waiting! We just gotta find them!
We had a big confernece this past weekend. Elder Villalobo from the 70 came! It was awesome to hear and learn from him. I always love to soak up the words and revelations from Heavenly Fathers servants! Always so much to improve!

Our investigator Kenia was able to the Sunday session! We were excited her and her dad made it. Sadly she told us she didnt like it very much.. were thinking she got scared about tithing.. So were going to go see her wednesday and help her to understand it. (: Her dad is amazing (Hes a recent convert) and were hoping he helped clarify things too.

Something that I loved from the conference was a comment my mission president, President Kusch said. He said, "If we put the Lord first, we will NEVER lose blessings."

I know with all my heart it is true. I know when we put the Lord first, everything will fall into its place and he will bless us with the things each of us need. He knows us personally and knows our names. So he can bless us with things we cant even imagine. I know as we are obedient, we will have the happiness and comfort we all want.

I hope you are all having a beautiful summer! !LES AMO!
Oh and funny story of the week: Me and my companion pretty much got chased by a scared cow while trying to cross a river. Story short-we made it out alive. All is well haha(;

Con muchoo amor,
Brookie Cookie, aka Hermana Chynoweth

PS the pics are from the stake conference! The first pic is with me and Hermana Fernelius (my trainer). She is ending her mission this Friday... :(
And the second is with my companion!
PSx2 Next week is transfers! And Im pretty sure ill be staying here in Alpuyeca!

E-mail (Dated: 6/8/2015)

Hola Hola Hola!

This week in Alpuyeca was great!  We have found an amazing couple! There names are Karen and Jaime and they have a little boy named Mateo who is about a year old. We have been teaching Karen for the past two weeks, but Saturday night, we finally had the chance to meet her husband! We brought another couple with us- La familia Sicardo. And it was like all the puzzle pieces we had all just fit together. The members bore their testimonies and shared their conversion stories that happened about 8 years ago. As the hermano Sicardo cried to us, sharing his testimony, the room was filled with the spirit and brought us all so much joy. The hermano Sicardo invited them to come to church yesterday and they said yes! And the best part... Karen and Jaime ended up taking me and my compion to church!!! (And this is a big deal! Cuase just to get to our church we have to travel an hour... So its a challenge to get people to travel that far) But the whole ward was so welcoming and they fit in amazingly. And my favorite part of church that actually brought me to tears was when a young mom bore her testimony in sacrament testifying that families are eternal. And Jaimes face brightened and he turned to his wife and said "Its true!". Ah so so tender. They held hands during church the whole time and I just cant wait to teach them about eternal famlies!!

We also had 2 other investigators in church- Kenia and her sister! Kenia is progressing beautifully! But if you can keep all of these investigators in your prayers we would be so grateful!

I am so grateful for these tender moments. I am SO grateful that Heavenly Father has let me be apart of so many wonderful experiences. I love this time my Heavenly Father has given me to serve him.
I love you all! Les amo! Have a great week!

Con muchooo amor,
Hermana Chynoweth
Scrip of the week:
2 Nefi 27:23 "For behold, I am God, and I am a God of miracles."

PS The first pic is from today- I met up with Hnas Neuberger and Skinner here in Cuernavaca! And the second is from today also with my companion Hna Canales! If you look closely im pretty sure the man in the back of the bus is picking is nose haha...

E-mail (Dated: 5/25/2015)

Hola hola hola!

Its been another great week. I'm liking my new area! The ward is great, we have some awesome investigators, and my comp is a doll! Its super hot here though! The sun is a lot stronger here for some reason! Me and my comp got fried on Saturday. Oh and its funny, Alpuyeca reminds me of Mani in a strange way haha. Ill attach a pic (:

So this week not too much has happened, we had a big conference again and I had to say goodbye to my mission President and his wife. :( They end here next month. So that was crazy! Our next mission President is from Mexico! Ill only have one transfer with him though. And do you guys remember my "mission mom" ( my trainer) Hna Fernelius? Shes in my Zone! She is ended her mission this change too though. 

So anyway back to the area- not gonna lie, I don't think I've ever been rejected so rudely in an area. I have been a little surprised, but nothing a missionary cant handle (: Just helping me grow. Im always up for a challenge haha. Its been crazy. but we have found some amazing new investigators and we are really excited to work with them. Sofia is doing great and progressing. We finally met her sister too and she also has a baptismal date. They have been so receptive to the lessons, we just have to get their mom on board. 

Quote of the week:

"I am sure that if you or I held in our hands the original scrolls that Moses wrote upon or the very metal plates that Mormon had inscribed, we would fell a deep sense of reverence and awe and would treat those objects with great care. And so we should, because they are sacred objects, made so in part by the labor and sacrifice of the holy prophets who so painstakingly prepared them. 

But the greatest value of such scrolls or plates is not the objects themselves, but in the words they contain. They are sacred because they are the words of God." -D. Todd Christofferson

This week we talked a lot about the importance of the scriptures. I never took into account that it was probably so hard for the prophets to write upon the plates and not to mention how hard it must have been to carry them around everywhere. I am so grateful that these men that were called of God sacrificed so much so that today we could have the scriptures to search, receive comfort and draw us closer to our Heavenly Father. 

I love you all! Have a great week! Mwah!

Con muchooo amor, 

Hermana Chynoweth aka Brookie Cookie

E-mail (Dated: 5/11/2015)

Hey fam!!

Ahh it was so so amazing to talk to you guys yesterday!! I miss you all so much! Crazy that the next time i see you will be in the Airport!? AH!

So big changes.. I have been changed from my sweet Palmas. I am now in an area called Porvenir. Its actually the neighboring area to my first area! Its really exciting to be so close to it! Hopefully ill fun into some people (: My new companion is Hermana Via! She is from Boliva!! She is so sweet. She only has one transfer left in the mission so it looks like i will probably be killing her off...
I'm excited to work with her though. But changes are always hard for me.. I hate change haha. So just through in an extra prayer or two for me (: I think it about killed me and Jose to find out I was leaving...

I'm excited to get to work and see how I can help the Lords work here in Porvenir.
I know many opportunities and growing experiences are ahead!
I love all of you so much! Thanks for all your support and love! Ill let you know how Porvenir is next week!

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Chynoweth aka Brookie Cookiee
Pics: My new comp and My favorite pic in the world- Look how cute Jose is haha!

E-mail (Dated: 5/4/2015)

Hey hey hey!

Awesome surprise!! Guess who is now in a trio with her MTC companion!? THIS COOKIE!! Hermana Neuberger had special changes and now shes part of our companionship! Its such a good time! I love that girl! Its been so fun to see how far we have each come. And she has fit so so well in our area here in Palmas. She has such a sweet spirit and the people already love her. But I doubt our trio will last for long... changes are next monday and i think im out of here... i have almost 8 months here in Palmas! Ill let ya know what happens though (:

Our area is going great. I feel like we are really on a roll and Heavenly Father is blessing us so much. Our investigators are so so special and are fitting great into the ward. We have also been recieving so many references in this past week! Which is amazing cause its been so hard to recieve them in the past. So we are excited to contact all of them.

One hard thing we had this week was that our recent convert Maria Elena ran into Hermana Skinner while we were doing divisions. We havent been able to find her in a couple weeks (Weve passed by her house and called her family so many times). And she told Hermana Skinner that she didnt want to see us anymore. :( She said she wants to be alone and she moved to Xochitepec. So we dont know where she lives exactly to help her new ward help her and visit her. But i know that she is in the hands of God and he will take care of her. Im still going to be calling her family and passing by to get her new address from her family.

So if you guys could pray extra hard for her it would be very appreciated! Also please keep Jose in your prayers. Hes a champ but still is fightin.

But other than that everything is great!! I actually wanted to share a quote and thought with you guys from President Hinckley that i read this morning...

"Cultivate a testimony of the restoration of the gospel. You have to nourish, you have to feed your testimony by reading the scriptures, praying, and by being active and faithful in the church, by doing his will. If  you dont have a testimony, go to work to get one. The Lord told us how to do it. He said "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the Doctrine."

Ive had a lot of situations lately where ive noticed how important it is to have a FIRM testimony. We have to do all that we can to strengthen our testimonies every day. If not we can fall so so easily. We really are protected from the world if our testimonies are strong.

I love you all! Have such a great week! Cant wait to talk to you on SUNDAY!!! (:
Con todo el amor del mundo,
Hermana Chynoweth aka brookie cookie

Ps here are some fun pics for ya. FYI me and Hermana Neuberger literally did not plan to match either time haha. So funny!

E-mail (Dated: 4/27/2015)

Hey Fam!

Not much has happened this past week, I ended up getting sick. So it took me out for a couple days. :/ But me and Hermana Skinner are so ready to hop back into things! We have lots of appointments to go teach new people so were excited for that!

Annie is doing great! She has so so many questions! She is so excited to learn and just soaks it all in! She is actually really amazing because her family are all Catholics, and they are giving her a hard time about meeting with us. But she just tells them its what she wants to do and its making her happy! She is a great example of standing up for what is right.

Jose is also doing great! He got the Priesthood yesterday!! He couldn't stop smiling. He loves this church and this gospel so much and cant stop thanking Heavenly Father for sending it to him. Haha one of the Elders told me I'm like his mom cause I just get so excited for him-like i cant wait for him to pass the sacrament. And he told me too that I'm like his spiritual mom. (: We love him so much!

Also cool miracle of the week: Jose had absolutely no money this week. And so he wouldn't have money to get back from church. But he knew that God would help him. And Saturday night, he was sitting down and found 6 pesos in the dirt. Exactly what he needed to get back home the next day (:

Well i love you all! Hope your week is great!!

LES AMO!!
Con muchoo amor,
Brookie Cookie, aka Hermana Chynoweth
oh and PS: Were back to four people in our house again... the other has had a problem in their house so they had to move in with us!

E-mail (Dated: 4/20/15)

Hey fam... BIG NEWS!!!!

My favorite little old man walked into the waters of Baptism on Friday night!!!! Ahhh I wish i could express how happy I am for him!! The service was BEAUTIFUL. He had sooo many ward members there supporting him. And guess who baptized him... My mission President- PRESIDENT KUSCH! We had interviews last wednesday and I asked him and he said yes... (: This is a big deal... like this never happens! Jose loves him though. He had the opportunity to listen to him talk in a stake conference (cause Im in Presidents ward) and after he was just like wow... that man is amazing. So when I told Jose, his head fell into his hands and he almost started crying.

We actually didnt find out that Jose was going to be baptized this week until the night before. He wanted to wait until next weekend because he wanted to have an interview with our Bishop before. And miracously we ran into the bishops wife wednesday to move his interview to Thursday instead of Friday night. And afterwards, I got a call saying he wanted to go through with the baptism the next day!! So me and Hna Skinner hurried and put the whole program together in one night! And i was shocked how amazing it went. The spirit was so so strong. And he even gave his testimony at the end was just the cherry on top. He expressed his love and appreciation for everyone. He said "I dont have any family. But here, I have you all. You are all now my family." There was not one dry eye in the room. I dont think ive ever cried so hard since i left on my misison.. I was just so happy for him and tears wouldnt stop... Haha he even gave me a hard time about it but he told me the next day that he knew they were tears from my heart.

As i went home that night, I was in awe about how Heavenly Father let me be apart of that incredible moment. I cant believe Heavenly Father let me walk by Jose step by step and see his conversion... I feel really spoiled! That little man will be my friend for the eternities.
Seriously the best moment in my whole misison. Aww soo soo happy (: And ive never seen a little old man smile so so big. (:

Oh and uhhh soo i finally got my first "called up on the spot" talk in church... Lets just say that Heavenly Father guided me SO much.. It was cool thought cause I never thought i would be able to do anything like that! And somehow I gave a 10 minute talk in spanish!!

Oh and Annie is doing amazing!! She came to church along with 5 others on Sunday and it was just the best (:

Love you all! Hope you have a great week!
LES AMO!!

Con muchooo amor,
Brookie Cookie, aka Hermana Chynoweth

PS Here are some pics from the baptism! My comp snuck the second one while i was talking to Jose after the baptismal service.

E-mail (Dated: 4/13/2015)

Hola Hola Hola! First things first.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAIGENNN (on Friday)!!!! Love you so so much!! Hope your birthday is amazingggg!!! So this week was Amazing! Me and Hermana Skinner have seen sooo many tender mercies and blessings! This week I think its fair to say neither of us have worked so hard in our entire missions. We both just passed out on the floor each time we walked through the door each night! At the end of this week, we ended up finding 15 new investigators and 8 of them accepted a baptismal date! It was so so exciting!! But i want to tell you guys about my favorite miracle this week. We were just heading back to our house one night, when someone behind us said "Excuse me, are you guys Mormons?" We told her yes and she smiled the biggest smile I've ever seen and said "I've been looking for you guys!" As we got to know her she told us that the past two Sundays she had attended our church. She has so so many questions that she wants us to answer like how she can know which church is true! She has a guy friend that invited her to church and she kept going even without him!! We returned the next day and she was SO excited. She had been practicing how to pray and is just the cutest thing ever. Oh her name is Annie and shes like 22 by the way (: Biggest miracle. We love her! Another huge miracle we had was that Jose (Our little old man) let us into his house for the first time. And he let us clean his house!! We have been trying to help him ever since we first met him. It was actually really hard to see what he was living in though. He had old food in his sink, dirt, and ants everywhere. I remember being a little worried to open up the fridge cause i thought i was going to find rotten food, but when i opened it up, there was nothing but a bottle of ketchup. I couldn't believe it. Ah it broke my heart. Some of these people live in such sad circumstances. We really are so blessed back home. Never ever doubt that. But anyway after hours of cleaning, we got it all sparkling clean and we even had brought lots of pictures of Christ to put up in his house after (: The difference of the spirit was CRAZY! It was so special for me to be able to serve him. Well i love you all so so much! Have a great week!! MWAH!! LES AMO!! Con muchooo amor, Brookie Cookie, aka Hermana Chynoweth

E-mail (Dated: 4/6/2015)

Hola Hola Hola!

I hope you guys had a fantastic Easter and Conference weekend! I have been so grateful for the amazing words they gave us. Definately brightened my week and they all said just what I needed to hear. I hope you all got answers to your questions too! So grateful for a living prophet and his apostles!

It has been a wonderful week working with Hermana Skinner. We have been very blessed and seen many miracles! I have been so grateful that we have had the opportunity to go and work up in Alta Palmira again. (Ps. Alta Palmira was the place where I worked when we got evacuated out of Chilpancingo) It has been such a great experience and we have found a lot of people that we will be teaching this week! We have also been able to get ahold of old people Hnas Prieto, Mills and I found while working up there in October!

Also we had such a tender moment with Jose this past week. Tuesday afternoon we visited him and decided we needed to teach him about temples. As we told him about how he could do temple work for his family, he stopped us and said "Wait, so I can see her again? She can be baptized? Im going to cry." He was talking about his mom... His eyes got watery and we all sat there in silence as he took in this amazing news. Ever since, he cant seem to drop the subject. And i dont blame him! He told us he has lots of family members that he is going to baptize (:

I am so grateful for the beautiful plan Heavenly Father has blessed us with. It truely is so merciful and perfect. I am so grateful that we all have the opportunity to live with our families for eternity. And what a blessing it is to be able to share this plan with everyone here in Mexico right now!

Love you all! Have an amazing week!

Con muchooooo amor,
Brookie Cookie aka Hermana Chynoweth

Ps. See you 4 months!! Crazy i have 14 months of the mission now...??

E-mail (Dated: 3/23/2015)

Hey hey hey!

How is everyone doing? Me and Mills are doing great! Not going to lie though, this past week was a testing our faith. We felt that this past week was slow and that not too many people were home. And on top of that, all our members bailed on us. But yesterday our enduring pulled through!! We ended up having 5 investigators show up to church! Aw so amazing. We finally were able to start teaching Maria Elena's family on Saturday because they finally opened up to us! It was incredible when they let us into their house and then we found out that Maria Elena wasn't even home! They wanted us to teach them!! The daughter and the granddaughter ended up coming to church with us yesterday (: Also our cute Jose came along with Eva and Salvador. Not going to lie, we thought Eva and Salvador would not come so when they walked through the doors, me and Mills got teary. It was so special to sit with all these people who are coming unto Christ. We were all sitting by each other along with a less active woman that me and Mills have been visiting and it was just amazing.
Jose is doing good. He is still fighting his smoking addiction. He went 4 days without smoking last week but feel Saturday morning and smoked half a cigarette. We are still shooting for his baptism this Friday night so if you could all pray super hard for him we would appreciate it!
Also changes are next Monday.. we have no idea whats gonna happen, but me and Mills have 6 months together now so were thinking their will be some changes. But ill let you know what happens (:
Thanks for everything! I love you all!
Con muchoooo amor,
Brookie Cookie aka Hermana Chynoweth

Scrip of the day:
Mormon 9:19 "And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of MIRACLES."

I know that If we put our trust in faith in God, he WILL show us Miracles. (: For he is a mighty God and will never change. Just like the miracles we read from the scriptures, if we too have faith we will see miracles today. Its up to us if we see them or not.
¡LES AMO!

E-mail (Dated: 3/16/2015)

Hey fam!

First off- NATHAN HAPPY BIRTHDAYYYYY!! (: I LOVE YOU!!!!! and my BABY CALLY!!! Hope you guys have an amazing birthdayyy!

It has been an awesome week! Me and Hermana Mills have felt that we have been so blessed and have seen so many miracles.

I have been so amazed by our investigator Jose (out little old man). He is still fighting so hard to stop his addiction. But he has shown his faith so much in this past week. On Wednesday he told us that he wouldn't be able to attend church this upcoming Sunday because a lady would be letting him wash her dishes and little side jobs in her house to gain some money to eat. He said yes because he literally has no money- not one peso in his pocket. Throughout the week, we pondered on what to tell him, and on Saturday, he ended up promising us he would come to the baptism that evening (of a different set of missionaries) and to church the next day. He told us that God was more important than money or food. I was so so touched by his faith. I've never seen a man of such faith. He has been such an incredible example to me and i will forever be grateful for the impact he has made in my life.
Eva and Salvador also came to the baptism on Saturday and they loved it. As I sat there with them, I knew that they too would soon be walking into the waters of baptism. (:

I'm grateful for the blessing to grow along side of these incredible people here in Mexico. I've pondered a lot this week how blessed I have been to be here on the mission. And it just makes me smile!

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Chynoweth aka Brookie Cookie
Oh I also forgot to mention, Jose wants to read the Book of Mormon with us in 65 days (: And he is doing it!!!

E-mail (Dated: 3/9/2015)

Hola Hola!

Guess who finally walked into the waters of baptism?! Maria Elena!!! Ahh i wish i could express over email how amazing it was and how happy I am for her. She has fought so hard to get to this point. Days before her baptism (Thursday) she was hit hard with a memory loss. We were on our way to her house, when we ran into her granddaughter. She told us that Maria Elena had lost her memory and didnt know who anyone was. She told us we could still go she her though. So before we entered the house, I offered a prayer, asking Heavenly Father to help her remember us. When we walked in, Maria Elena had what I thought the mind of a child. She called her daughter mom and was restless and she couldnt remember her own children. She had lost her memory before but it normally lasted days to weeks. But after a half hour from when we got there (after i started taking her blood pressure haha) she came back!! It was a huge miracle! We started a fast for her that day, and from there on out, everything was okay. And when Saturday came, she was the happiest woman in all of Mexico (:
People said that we should maybe postpone the baptism to next weekend, but me and Hermana Mills knew that she would be okay. Cause God is a God of miracles. With him, anything is possible. And i am so so grateful!! It was such an incredible experience.

Thanks for all your prayers. We have felt all of them this week! And if you guys would keep Jose in your prayers again this week it would be very appreciated. Hes fighting so hard with his smoking addiction and he needs the extra help.

I hope you all have a fantastic week! (: LOVE YOU!!
Con muchooo amor,
Brookie Cookie aka Hermana Chynoweth

E-mail (Dated: 3/2/2015)

Hey hey hey!

Its been a great week! We have been working super hard with a couple of our investigators- Marialena and Jose. Our investigator Marialena has completely turned around and cannot wait for her baptism! She actually had an accident with her daughter this week- Her daughter got kidney stones. And she told us that even though her daughter wasn't doing good, she felt so much peace and comfort from her Heavenly Father. She testified how much the gospel has helped her and she has such a burning desire to be close to God. We finally anounced her baptism on Sunday!! It will be this Saturday at 4 (: We cannot wait for her!

Jose (our little old man) is doing great also! We have been so amazed by him. In just these past 2 weeks, he has gone from 6 cigarretts to 2 smokes/inhales a day or nothing. He says that he just wants to be good with God. Its been really a touching experience to teach him. Haha me and Hermana Mills are determined to take him back to the US with us (: We love him so much!

We also had a very huge miracle this past week: A less active called US to come back to church... she was baptized about 5 years ago with one of her daughters. And she got a hold of us to come help her get back to church and to come teach her family! I am so so grateful! She ended up coming to the Stake Conference and all three hours of church yesterday. Its amazing to see how Heavenly Father prepares His children and help them get back on the straight and narrow path.

Well I love you guys so much! Hope your week is great (:

Con muchooo amor,
Brookie Cookie aka Hermana Chynoweth

E-mail (Dated: 2/23/2015)

Wow its definately been a crazy week. It was full of ups and downs! We had lots of conferences- Elder Mendoza from the 70 came and talked to us! It was amazing to hear his council and testimony!
But besides all the conferences, this whole past week we have been trying to get a hold of our investigator Marialena (The woman who was supposed to be baptized very soon). She had been out of town for family problems, and when she came back, it seemed to be impossible to find her. Everyday as we passed by her house, she was out selling or no one knew where she was or she felt sick and "couldnt talk". But yesterday after the conference, we went to find her. She wasn't home again, but we decided to talk to a less active and tell her what we had learned in the conference and that she was missed very much. Then, right as we finished, Marialena walked by. We ran to her to help her carry her bags and she rejected our help. She was not herself. It was a completely different Marialena than the one we had been teaching two weeks ago. She told us that she didn't want to talk our lessons anymore and that she wanted to be alone cause life was too hard. She didn't want to talk or see anyone. This threw me and Hermana Mills way off. We talked to her on the side of the street, all of us with tears streaming down our faces.  Finally, she said okay come into her house and talk. I've never been in such an intense situation. I prayed so so hard that the spirit would guide our words and soften her heart. And after talking it out with her, she finally said okay I will keep listening to you, and I will be baptized! It was amazing to see how strong the power of God was. He completely answered our prayers and softened her heart. She came back to herself and her desires to follow and turn to Christ came back.

This experience was a very learning experience to me. I saw how in just two short weeks, how fast satan can come and attack us. And if we don't study the scriptures and pray every single day, we will fall FAST.

I'm grateful that we are still able to continue to teach our Marialena. And I'm so grateful for the power of the Holy Ghost. Because without it, we would have lost her. Also, If you all could keep Marialena and her family in your prayers I would be very grateful!!

I love you all so very much (: Have a great week!
Con muchooo amor,
Hermana Chynoweth aka Brookie Cookie

Quote of the day: "Dont yield to stans lie that you dont have time to study the scriptures. Choose to take the time to study them. Feasting on the word of God each day is more important than sleep, school, work, television shows, video games, or social media. You may need to reorganize your prioritites to provide time for the study of the word of God. If so, do it!"                                                                                  -Elder Richard G Scott October 2014 Conference.

E-mail (Dated: 2/16/2015)

Hola mis amores! I hope all of you had a fantastic Valentines Day (:

Well Me and Hermana Mills are super excited because yesterday, we had a man named Jose, and a couple (Eva and Salvador) come to church for their first time! We just barely started teaching Jose about a week and a half ago, and he is progressing SO much! He is 75 years old and is just the cutest little man ever. He has such a strong desire to follow Jesus Christ. He has had a smoking addiction for quite some time, but this week he got down to only smoking 2 cigarettes each day! He has gone from about 6 to 2 every day since we first met him(: Me and Mills are super excited for him.

We have some time teaching Eva and Salvador, but they finally told us this week we could pass by for them for church! They had lots of challenges to get over, but they finally developed the faith to come! They both fit in so well in the ward, and Eva was just glowing and smiling. It was so fun to see them.

Well big surprise this week: Me and Hermana Mills are going to be staying together again here in our area! This will be our 4th transfer together its crazy... but I am grateful I have another transfer or more to work here! We have found some really great people, people that I know we will see entering the waters of baptism. I'm grateful for the opportunity to learn how to keep enduring, even when it seems impossible to do. Me and Mills have raised our expectations for our area, and we are seeing more miracles. Its been a very great learning experience for me!

I love you all! Have a fantastic week (:

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Chynoweth aka Brookie Cookie (:

Ps Happy late birthday to Blake!! (:
Psx2 Here are some pics from Tepoztlan! The first one is one top of the Pyramid! If you zoom in close on the second, you might be able to find the pyramid on the top of the mountain we hiked (:

E-mail (Dated: 2/9/2015)

Hi fam!!

Sorry this will be so so short! Me and my comp just got back from hiking! We went to what is called Tepolzlan (:

Anyway know I love all of you and I will update you next week! Changes will be this Wednesday because a 70 is coming to our mission next week! Other than that, all is the same.

Con muchooo amor,
Hermana Chynoweth aka Brookie Cookie

E-mail (Dated: 2/2/2014)

Hi loved ones! Wahooo guess who hits their year mark this week? This missionary!! Well I don't have a lot of time cause my poor companion is super sick, so here we go!

So this week, we found thee most special family. The moms name is Patty, and her two kids are Juan Pablo and Andrea. They are Catholics and have soo much faith. The mom is such an amazing and strong woman. In our first lesson, they all accepted a baptismal date and also put a goal to start reading and praying every night. When we came back a couple days later, they were all excited, telling us they have been keeping their goal! The mom also started crying as we visited her with some recent converts, a little confused why she felt so comforted when we were in her house. We were all able to express our testimonies of the gospel, and how Heavenly Father is letting her know that this is his church. She has some difficulties with her husband, they were on the point to divorce, but this incredible message is bringing so much hope and peace into her life.

Our other investigator, Marialena is at the point of being baptized! Her baptism will probably end up being the 14 of February (yay Blake's birthday!) if not this upcoming Saturday. She has been so receptive to everything, and is sharing it with her whole family! Just last Saturday, we met her grand daughter Marisol who accepted us with her whole heart! Its amazing to see how just one person can effect a whole family. Its been amazing to see her love and desire to follow Christ grow.

Les amo!! Have such a great week! Mwah!
Con muchooo amor,
Brookie Cookie aka Hermana Chynoweth

E-mail (Dated: 1/26/2015)

Hey my beautiful family! How is everyone doing?

Well I would love to tell you about some of the hugeee miracles we saw this week!!

First off, with the 15 year old girl we found- Fanny- we went to visit her, and she told us right off that her and her spouse had started praying together. She told us that before, they were fighting all the time, and now they are not fighting at all!! She told us that he had been blessed with more work, and since he wasn't at home every night, they would call each other and say a prayer over the phone. She was excited to give the first prayer, and didn't need any reminders of how to start of finish and she said it perfectly. It was such a tender mercy for me and Hermana Mills to see. It was such a testimony builder of the importance of couple and family prayer. I know that it really does make the biggest difference. Sometimes its hard to take the time to get the family together, but it will make the biggest eternal difference.

The second miracle we saw was yesterday. Me and Hermana Mills had been fasting specifically for an investigator named Marialena (the woman who told us she would be moving in a week or two, right before her baptism). We have been praying so hard that she would be able to be baptized. And after our ward council, right before church, we ran to pick her up, and right when we saw her, she immediately told us that she would not be moving to Temixco! She will only be moving right down the street!! I stood there, trying not to cry because the works of our Heavenly Father are so great. We are so so grateful and privileged to help her continue to prepare for her baptism, and I could not be more excited!!

Everything is going great. We are seeing the blessing from our endurance. And I know we will only continue to see more!

Scripture of the week (Sorry ive been so bad with this lately): 3 Nephi 13: 31-33

"Take no thought saying what shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you."

These past couple weeks we have been talking a lot with our investigators about the importance of putting God first- For example our prayers, scripture reading, and church attendance. And I know that if we do, he really will take care of everything else. He is soo willing to bless us if we can just show a little bit of faith and put him before everything else.

I love you all! Hope everything is great!
Con muchooo amor,
Brookie Cookie aka Hermana Chynoweth

E-mail (Dated: 1/19/2015)

Hola hola mis amores!

This week was a little bit hard too, but were still pushing through! We found out that our investigator Marialena (Our baptism that would be in 2 weeks) is going to be moving to Temixco. :( Shes not exactly sure when but she told us sometime in the next two weeks. So that was a bummer. But we saw a miracle with her! Me and my companion decided to start a fast Saturday night for our area. And when we went to pick up Marialena before church, She told us that she had been feeling dizzy on Saturday night. She decided to pray and right after she felt fine! She had been worried she wouldn't be able to come to church the next day, but Heavenly Father blessed her to come! But during Sacrament, she did start feeling sick again, so she was able to receive a Priesthood blessing. And she made it through all 3 hours- she was so determined to stay! She was so cute! And afterwards she told us that after the men had put their hands and oil on her head, she felt so much better! It was a tender experience for us all. I know that the power of prayer and fast is unstoppable. Heavenly Father is so willing to bless us with tender mercies as we put forth effort on our part.
We also found a really special girl in our area this week. Her name is Fanny. When we stopped her on the side of the road, she had just moved here from Michoacan 6 days ago. She is having such a hard time here- Shes only 15 and has a 4 month baby and lives with her druggy spouse. She told us she wants to turn her life around. She is so excited to hear more about our message and wants to be baptized! Were excited to see what happens with her!
I hope you all have such a great week! Les Amo!

Con muchooo amor,
Brookie Cookie (:

PS: interesting story of the week: There are two men who live in our area and are literally drunk every hour of the day. And this week they wouldn't stop following us saying we have "Beauty eyes" and "Im in love with you". Not gonna lie I'm learning a lot of patience for drunk men haha.

E-mail (Dated: 1/12/2015)

Hey hey hey!

Well not gonna lie, this week was a Little bit harder. We had lots of challenges with our investigators. We had a couple this week that we were teaching tell us that they no longer wanted to take the missionary lessons. :( I know they have their agency, but I still cried once we left the house cause I know how many blessings they are losing. Also, no one came to church yesterday and we had many many investigators tell us they would come. But I wont get discouraged, because I know that that's not what my Heavenly Father wants! He wants me to learn and grow from this challenge, so that's what ill do! And hey on the bright side, the less actives that we have been visiting have been coming back to church! We had 3 this past Sunday! (:

Also, when we challenge people to be baptized, they accept at first, and then say no to an exact date and say well i just cant say for sure right now. Its been hard, but its all good! I know that these little bumps in the road are just helping us work harder and helping us grow stronger! And I have faith that Heavenly Father will guide us to the people who will accept.

Other than that, we are doing really good! Hermana Mills is great i love her!

I love you all so so much! Hope everything is going great! (: MWAH!
Con mucho amor,
Brookie Cookie aka Hermana Chynoweth
¡Les Quiero!

E-mail (Dated: 1/5/2015)

Hola mis amores!

First off, changes were today and Hermana Mills and me will be staying here in Palmas! We will not be going back to Chilpanchingo. We are actually really excited to be staying. We have some very special people in our area, and are so excited to see them progress!

Its so so amazing to be here on the mission. Its amazing to see the Lords hand in everything and especially all the miracles. Yesterday we had 2 cute old ladies come to church! One never had a set religion (her name is Marialena) and the other is probably one of the most catholic women I've ever met (Leona). She told us right off that she was catholic and wouldn't change, and long story short we stopped visiting her. But she came to church yesterday for the first time! I was sitting with Marialena when Leona walked in the Sacrament room and my jaw just dropped. It was such a tender mercy to see her in the church! Everyone was so so kind to her and as she left the church after all three hours, her and Marialena walked off holding hands while walking towards the bus. She was smiling and said she liked the church! It was one of thee most precious moments!

I am so grateful for the power of this message. And I know that the spirit really can touch the heart of every single person, no matter how catholic they are (;

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

Con todo el amor del mundo,
Hermana Brookie Cookie
ps... Hit my 11 month mark today.. woah right?