Singing In the Rain (No, Of Course Not Because We Got Lost) 4/9/2017

Heyyyyyyyy everyone!! Nice to see you all! Except that I don't see you. :)

So yeah! We had a great week! Though true to form I would lose a brain cell if I tried to remember what we even did. 

Though I do have a handy dandy notebook. Called a planner. And I wrote down in it some funny things that happened to us this week. 

Tuesday we had a service opportunity we do each week, giving food to old people and such. That was fun~ They always grin at us and tell us we are pretty and stuff. Cute old people. 

On Wednesday after our District Meeting we were headed to an appointment with a member. I saw a street and decided we should take it, because it was going to be an adventure!!

It was definitely an adventure.

We got so lost we ended up hiking up a "mountain"! In the rain! And we were late! But it was fun :) It was also very pretty, so we got some cool pictures. That's always a plus. We did end up finding our way, and it was a good thing we brought umbrellas!! 

More~~ A squid ink sausage bread, our conference snacks, and the conference watching crew!!! YEah, we watched it in that tiny room.

Wow, I really have not much else to say! We had English class on Saturday and were making sentences with nouns and adjectives and things came up like "The eye is cute" "The face is long" and our personal favorite "The uncle is hot" Which my companion and I laughed really hard about. 

Besides all that, conference was great! I always love conference so much! 

Wow, yep that's all I have to say.

I really liked the things from conference about being "all in" and "don't look around, look up" and just about loving the people you serve and work with. It was all really great.

I hope all the pictures are 1000 words! We had a fun zone pday last week. Lots of fun.

Gotta love missionary work~~~~ 

Its Always Almost Monday 4/2/1/7

Hello everyone!!!!

How are you all? I assume your great! Why? Because I read in studies this morning that "We truly have every reason to be optimistic and happy." Which I must say, I believe with all my heart! I have spent over a year of my life on a mission now, and I have gone through a lot of things. I have had really great weeks, and really not so great moments, and rough days, and joyful hours. Despite whatever circumstance I have been in though, I have made the choice that under it all I will ultimately be positive and happy! Optimism, positivity, patience, etc can all be elements of, and increase, our faith. Imagine how beautiful and bright the world would be if every rainy day meant to us personally that the flowers would be brighter and grass would grow greener, and not just that "I can't believe we will have to take an umbrella with us today." Please DANCE IN THE RAIN! The rain will dance with you. 

Personally, I love the rain. 

Annnyyyy ways. About my week.

Last Tuesday my companion and I were walking home from visiting a member and she said "Sister Brooksby, guess what? Its almost Monday!" Keep in mind, this was a Tuesday. She proceeded to explain that because of all the things we had to do last week, meetings, lessons, exchanges, etc that by the time it was all over, it would be Mondayagain. I laughed. Partly because it was true. And what do you know folks?

Its Monday.

We had a great Zone Conference this week~ Lots of good advice and impressions from the spirit! Our mission mom even taught us how to make a lot of good food with sweet potatoes! BTW Korean sweet potatoes are good. Very good. When I go back to America don't expect me to eat the sweet potatoes.  He he. 

We were walking past a lady who was dragging a big cart with lots of cardboard on it down the road and my companion asked in alarm "Is that her job or her home?!?!" Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, its her job. 

Probably.

We also had a funny quote moment again when we were going over what happened during a lesson. She said "I'm sorry I didn't stick to the plan." And I replied "Its okay! If you stick to the plan, you're stuck." 

And then we both had to sit in silence a few moments in awe. It was just too brilliant. I can't even handle myself. 

I am ashamed to report we did absolutely nothing fooly on April fools. 

BUT! On Sunday we had a great lesson with our investigator, Sister Jung. She doesn't believe in God, or at least says she is not sure. She said it was hard to believe things she cannot see. We testified to her about the power of the Book of Mormon as evidence of the reality of God, and that the people who wrote it are a great testament because they SAW Him! She accepted our challenge to read from the book. We have great hopes!!! :) 

It is true, we cannot see God at the moment, but we have evidences of Him everywhere! Testimonies of others, the testimony of the spirit, scriptures, modern prophets, the very earth  we stand on, air we breathe, bodies we use allllllll testify to us that there is a creator and that he is divine. I know that Christ is our Savior. I have felt it, I have read it, and with my heart I have seen that that is true. We can all know for ourselves. It is a gift of the Spirit. To some it is given to have a testimony of Christ, and to others it is given to believe on their testimony! There is a way prepared to know, and a time prepared to share! :) 

I think I have some of the greatest proselyting conversations with those who know little to nothing about God or the Savior. I love to share my testimony of their reality, and how it has blessed my life. 

I was talking with a woman on the subway the other day who had no religion, didn't believe in God, and had had negative experiences with other churches in the past. As I testified of the truths and doctrines of this restored church and we talked together I saw in her eyes a softening, a light, and an inkling of a desire to know what it was that made me who I am. Near the end of our conversation she kept repeating the words "Your face just looks peaceful. You look like you are at peace." And it was true. She felt it. 

So it was a great week. Lots of good experiences, and all of them have served to wash away any stress or anxiety or trouble I may have been going through. Truly, our sorrows can be "Swallowed up in the joy of Christ"

I love you all! I love this Gospel!

I Look Like a Renee (I JUST REALIZED I DIDNT SEND THIS LAST WEEK I AM SORRY!) 3/27/17

Hello everyone!

My companion was guessing my first name this week. She said "I don't know, but you look like a Renee." 

Funny how that works.

For those of you who don't understand why that is totally CRAZY for her to say, my middle name just so happens to be Renee. Maybe I should just go by that now? XD

Anyway!!! Week 2 training! I think the weeks will just get better as we go on. My companion and I get along pretty well! She loves to talk, and I get to hear about what New Zeland is like, so its really cool! We are also having lots of fun giving out copies of the Book of Mormon together! She has a lot of faith, I think its really making the work move along! Also, almost everyone I have gotten a number from this week for some odd reason is a preacher or teacher for some other church. Crazy sauce. XD 

Oh yeah, the pics. We went bowling with some people in our zone last pday. Twas fun. :) I won the first round, then just did okay the second. XD Man I wish I was consistent hehehe. We also played pool. The funniest moment was when Elder Dalley hit the ball- a perfectly open shot mind you- and the ball bounced out of the hole. It was so funny I was on the floor laughing for like a minute. 

My comp and I have made a new game. If we see a church we say the vocab word we are learning for the day and whoever says it first gets a point. There are enough churches here to get 20+ points in one day. That tells you a lot about Korea. LOTS of churches. (Not our church churches)

As I review the week I realize, we study a lot. XD

We also went on exchanges! Sister Pari's first ever exchange! She was in Buchun with my old companion, Sister Pak Yelim. :)

The other sister and I had a fun time speed walking from missionary correlation meeting to our member appointment for 20 minutes! I was so tired!! 

The rest of the week I don't remember because it was forever ago and I didn't even finish this email last week! XD

Pics! Me with our coconut. Bowling. I wont explain the last one. 3/27/17

More Pictures from March 20th! New Companion!

Two Kinds of Greetings, and Every Missionary Gave a Talk 3/12/17

Helllooooo Everyone!!!

Now I know you all just last week heard about my sudden transfer to Kangdong, but this week we again received transfer calls!! Yay!! I've sent my boxes and carriers too much these past two weeks haha.

We will get to transfer calls in a bit.

First! Today I forgot to bring my old planner, so I don't remember what happened last week! Yay!!!! Honestly, I don't even feel like last week existed. We jumped straight from Sunday to Sunday and somehow did missionary work in between. XD 

I will do my best to recall what occurred.

So usually on Monday nights in Kangdong they have ward FHE, but the bishop texted that morning and cancelled it- even though a LA member had agreed to come! So we were all kind of like "well dang, now what" then we decided we would just go to an all you can eat meat place with the LA instead! It was fun haha. :) 

Though after you eat that much meat it kind of becomes just a lot of meat. All you can eat meat, its such a thing here. I think I can go home and just become a vegetarian for life now.

In the scriptures there is a phrase "stupor of thought"  I feel like it accurately describes how I am feeling at this current moment. I cannot think. XD 

Anyway. Thursday was a great day because we went and ate dinner with a member who moved to this area from my greenie ward, someone I reallllllyyyy love! We were able to eat with her and she gave us a bunch of food to take home as welll! She is seriously the best!!! 

I'll let you know about transfer calls now! 

Sister Yang will be going to Incheon 1st ward!

Sister Kim will stay and train!

Elder Carter will go to my greenie area!

Elder Dalley will go to Mokdong (he will be in the same district as me)

Because!

I am going back to Hwagok!!!!! :D

AND

I will train!!!

AND

I will be an STL!!!!

AND

It will be very fun, and very busy. XD Lots of new responsibility!

So, this week in church (because though she is not transferring, Sister Kim had an assignment to talk) alllllll the Kangdong ward missionaries spoke in church!!! I gave my "hello" greeting, and my "goodbye" greeting all in the same talk haha fun stuffs. XD

Yeahhh besides that I cant think of anything else to say, so have a good week everyone!!! Love you!! 

Only the Troublemakers Get Emergency Transferred... 3/5/17

Which makes sense, because this is my second time!

Hello everyone! I'm sure you are all incredibly curious about the title, and I'm not really up for making it a big suspense thing, so I will just tell you straight up what happened!

In a strange twist of events, my companion went home! I don't remember if I told you that her foot had been hurting her a lot, but it had! Well, apparently it was much worse that we thought, so she ended up going home! It was really crazy and all happened in less than 24 hours, she packed, I packed, and her parents came and took us to the mission office before we sent her off! It was quite the craziness. Since there are no threesomes in the mission and I can't do missionary work alone I was sent from my beloved Hwagok to a place close to our mission home in Seoul called Kangdong.

It was really funny because I heard I was going to be in a threesome and I thought "Ah! Now the chances are very high I will get an American companion, there aren't many companionships of just Korean sisters!"

Ladies and gentlemen.... My new companions are Sister 김다정(Kim) and 양희나(Yang)! The only (I think) companionship of two Korean sisters in our whole mission! So, I have yet to be companions with anyone from America, but I think since I only have three transfers left I'll just make it a goal never to have one anyway! Hehehe So I officially have 8 Korean companions in the field, and 2 in the MTC! I may have had more Korean companions than any American ever has before in the history of missionary work in Korea, who knows. Its a lot of fun though, both of them are super nice and way awesome!!!!!!

Sister Yang is kind of quiet, but very sweet and always wants to do really well. Sister Kim is a go-getter who leads really well and is great at proselyting! And both of them realllllyyyyy like it when I make cookies! ;) Its a lot of fun heheh

I don't know if there's not much else to add. 

Well I guess for anyone who may have heard a bit, yes I have been to the hospital this week for a little problem, but I am taking meds and it will get better, so no need to worry! God is realllyyyy watching out for me!   

My old companion who went home will probably get treatment for about 2 months and then come back to our mission, so no need to worry about her either! She is doing good, and I expect to see her again soon, a conquering hero!!! 

Officially Sick of the Ceiling 2/27/17

Hello Everyone! 

Yeahhh welcome to the adventures of Sister Brooksby! Which were very limited this week due to the fact that we were stuck in the house most of the time! Woo! But not so woo! XP He he he. So fun stuff. Hence, I'm tired of laying down and looking at the ceiling all the time! I miss the sky~~~ 

Tuesday my companion was having health issues that weren't resolved until about Thursday morning, and in between that time we spent a lot of time at home studying, resting, updating books, etc. We also decided to make our pinata for the FHE!!! Its a PENGUIN!!! I will send pics, but its pretty dang adorable. :)

We had our interviews with the mission president at our house this week! They are interviewing all the missionaries in their apartments this transfer- its a good thing we live clean! (Because we have so much time at home, cleaning is one of the things we do a lot hahaha)

We had a fun time sticker boarding on Thursday night after Sister Lee was feeling better, though it was much colder than expected! XD I ended up getting a cold because of it! Sad day. XP

BUT! We were able to meet Elder Holland on Friday!!! WOOOT! It was so cool! We got to shake his hand, we got our eyebrows singed (ha, ha), and overall the spirit of the Lord was present as His apostle bore testimony to us of the power of teaching so our investigators understand, and always using the Book of Mormon! Its been a great time! 

Due to some Sister Brooksby technical difficulties we were home bound again this weekend, but die to the grace of the Lord we were able to go to the special stake conference this Sunday and see Elder Holland again.

Our sister training leaders also came this week an exchanged with us so I could stay inside and my companion could go to some appointments for us. It worked out. Hopefully next week will be a better, brighter day in Korea! I love you all and really appreciate your prayers! :)

Lots of Blessings... Not Just the Preisthood Kind. 2/20/17

​Hello everyone!!!

Yes so this week has been great! I mean, despite all the crazy stuff that my companion and I have been through we have really been seeing a lot of joy in our work!

First off, my companion was walking quickly last week and slipped and twisted her already hurt leg. We went and got it checked in the hospital and they had to put her in a half cast. :P So that was fun. But on the same day we got the number of a girl who works at our service project with us who has a lot of great potential! 

We also had Zone Conference this week, but on the way in the bus we thought we would be late so we got off and took a taxi which ended up taking us to a really weird place and we ended up wandering around (yes, my companion with a hurt foot) for an hour trying to get to the church building! We ended up being almost an hour late. NOT cool. Slightly stressful. I don't know if you all know what happens if I get stressed, but its not exactly super fun. XD

Anyyyyyways. Thursday we went on exchanges! Sister Troxel and I stayed here in Hwagok and Sister Lee and Gamayon went to Cheongla! My old area~ When we exchanged back on Friday I was able to go back to my old house! It was super weird! :) Fun though. We also got to see a member of the Cheongla ward and she was like "Oh! HI! You!" :D Nice to sill be remembered after 2 months! XD

Annnddd that's about all the stuff. 

Oh!! Sunday!! On Sunday a young woman brought her friend to church! She brought her about 2 months ago when I first came to this ward but hadn't come since. It was so great to see her again! She also said she will be back next week so hopefully we can start meeting with her! Super exciting miracles going all around.

My companion did get a priesthood blessing this week for her health, and its been getting slowly better, but my companion and I would still love all of your prayers if you can spare them! 

I don't know if any of you know that if you invite more than one companionship to eat dinner with you they can only be there for an hour. 

And you might not also know that is an exceptionally hard to keep that rule as a missionary in Korea.

BUT

If you do keep that rule God sends you soooooooo many blessings!!! I think the harder the rule is to keep, the more blessings your receive as you obey it. We may have seemed a little rushed at all our dinner appointments recently, but I think it has for sure been leading to a lot of the blessings we have been seeing this week. 

Besides that, I just love you all and I love being a missionary! :) 

You Have a Referral For the Hwagok Sisters? Please Wait in Line. 2/13/17

Hello friends and family!!

This title might seem kind of prideful and slightly exaggerated, but we truly have been receiving a LOT of referrals this week! We meet twice a week with the family that was referred to us last Sunday, and the kids are ADORABLE!!!!! They are the cutest!!!! We love meeting with them~~~~ They are so eager to learn and also have a lot of questions. The oldest boy said a prayer this last time with my companions help and also promised he would pray before he goes to sleep at night~ Seriously so cute~

Also his week we met a grandma and her daughter and granddaughter! The grandma loves her church, but her daughter isn't religious but seems to have interest in the Book of Mormon and the fact that our church is not in fact a man-made church. We will see how that goes! 

I got stuck in bed for a few days this week with a fever and such. Grr. Its cool though, I will send you part of my letter to president this week about what I learned during that time: 

"In other news, I was sick this week so we had to be home-bound for about 2 days. That's not exactly my favorite thing, but I can say it oddly gave me time to think about grace. We aren't perfect, you know? If I was a perfect missionary, I would never be sick, so I would always be able to work, I would always talk to everyone, etc. I've always been a bit frustrated with myself for not being the healthiest of people, and getting sick so easily, but I learned something this week. Christ's Atonement covers everything, from spiritual to physical. His resurrection not only makes it possible for us to be resurrected, but to receive the grace of forgiveness for our physical weakness as well! In other words, the reason its okay for me not to be 100% healthy all the time is because of grace. As I learned and studied about this I had a opportunity to kneel down and thank my father in heaven and Savior for this great gift. Yeah, I'm a sickie (as my dad says it) but a happy one!!!!"

That's about how I feel! I have gotten a lot better, too. I got a blessing and that night I started to feel much better!! :) 

On Sunday we went to a members house to eat, but we didn't realize that half the ward was invited. People just kept showing up! Its a good thing there was a lot of (really good) food!!! :)

It was also funny because on the way in we walked up to the elevator, then I looked at the elders and said, pointing to the stairs "There's the stairs, Elders." And it was a joke, but then 3 of them started up the stairs and the poor 4th Elder who wasn't really up for going up 10 flights of stairs just stared at them. It was quite the sight as they arrived at the 10th floor huffing and puffing! 

We also prank called the zone leader last night and told him I was stuck in the bathroom because the door wouldn't open. (The same thing actually happened to 2 other sisters who lived in the house before, so I may have jinxed myself by doing it) It was super funny!! He was like "Well, we can go help you..." Even though it was like, 10pm. So very nice. At one point my companion was like "BIG PROBLEM! This was all a lie." And he hung up. Then later he called and I said "Hello" and he said "No." So my comp asked "Are you okay?" "No." Haahahah we laughed a lot.

The poor elders we serve with hahahaha.

Yeah, that was the week. Nothing toooo crazy went down. But it was awesome. I do want to share this quote with you though!

"Let us not complain at our friends and our neighbors because they do not do what we want them to do. Rather let us love them into doing the things that our Heavenly Father would have them do. We can do that, and we cannot win their confidence or their love in any other way."

This is one of my new favorite quotes! It says it all.

I love you all! Please do what Heavenly Father wants you to do!!!! 

She Attacked My Head.... What The...??? WHO ARE YOU?!? 2/5/17

Hello everyone!

Remember how I said I would be emailing on Tuesday? Just kidding!! Ha. Ha. Ha...

Well, turns out switching p-day was unexpectedly denied by the area presidency. So.... MONDAY EMAIL! Hehehehe. I'm happy and slightly bummed at the same time, I really wanted to try the different pday thing. 

Oh well! 

This week we had transfers! I said goodbye to my adorable Sister Legaspi, but reunited with Sister Lee! I was her STL in Incheon Zone and its really fun to be with her. She really loves makeup, clothing, hair, music, being obedient, proselyting, joking around, and eating! Its a blast! :) 

We had a crazy first day. After we got home we put her stuff down then studied, then after, we visited a LA members' store, then went to confirm another LA members' address, but she welcomed us in! We were super surprised! She talked a lot :) We think she might be a little lonely, shes older and lives alone. We talked a while, got a small message in and headed out to eat with a member. When we got there, to our surprise, she didn't remember inviting us! It was an interesting, slightly awkward experience. We ended up just going to sticker board instead! It was kind of funny because we all left her house and she said "Come back in an hour and I'll feed you!" but we all gathered around (the 6 missionaries in our ward) and discussed what we needed to do. We prayed to know whether we would sticker board, or if we should find a way to not meet with the member. After the prayer everyone waited a moment. Then I said "Well, I don't really know what to do, but I did think of an excuse we can use not to eat with her." Hahahaha and so we used that and went out and sticker boarded! 

Sometimes, the Holy Ghost can enlighten our mind with good excuses. Who knew?

We spent a lot of our time this week out and about! Talking with people, looking for houses, etc. Lots of fun! We met with a member this week who gave us their couch!!! That was cool. It was the old one they were throwing away. :)

One of the Elders in our ward had a birthday this week! We got him cake, he was very happy~~

There was a baptism in our ward this week!!! The Elders' investigator, Brother Lee. It was a really great day!! We sang "Gethsemane" and all the members were asking for the sheet music after! They really liked it. 

Part of my letter to president:
"As far as our 3 new investigators, its a family! I'm sure Sister Lee will tell you about her fast this week, (she fasted for new investigators the day we got the referral!) but anyway, after church we got a 소개! It was originally for the Elders, but the dad isn't always home, so they gave them to us. The mom is open-minded about religion, and she also lived in Utah for a year so she's already had a lot of good contact with members! We are excited to see where it goes. Its the family English Program, and they have lots of English interest, but we see they have potential and even if we aren't the ones to help them to baptism we sure hope we continue to plant seeds!"

So yeah! New investigators!!! Super happy!!! We hope all goes well with them!

As for the title.... Dun da da dun! My companion wanted to do my head today. So, she sat me down and had fun for a while haha and the restult..........Will come in another email! :)

Love you all!!!!!!!